Corruption
by Little Miss Writing Prodigy
Summary: Chat faces an oddly powerful Akuma he isn't sure he wants to fight, and this time, neither Marinette nor Ladybug will be there to help him.
1. Chapter 1

_**Before you read this, THIS DOES NOT TIE IN WITH MY UNFORTUNATE FIC!**_

 _ **Having said that, hope you like it :)**_

* * *

"Adrien?"

"Here."

"Alya?"

"Here."

"Juleka?"

"Here."

"Nino?"

"Yo."

"Marinette?"

"..."

Mrs. Bustier looked up, frowning when she saw the seat next to Alya empty. "Alya? Do you know where Marinette is?"

"No," Alya shook her head. "But she's most likely late again, she should be here soon."

The teacher sighed. "If this lateness of hers keeps going, Marinette's going to be missing a lot of-"

"It's Marionette, _madame."_

The whole class went silent as the soft and timid voice came from the door. You could hear a pin drop as everyone slowly turned to face the door, already having a slight hunch of what was going on. None of them felt really good about it.

"Marinette..." Alya whispered, staring at her with wide eyes.

Their class president stood there, looking like a porcelain doll with no expression on her face. Her pretty blue eyes were soulless and empty, completely void of the light that had been in them the day before. She was wearing a white dress with blue diamonds spread all over it, her gloves, choker, mask and the bow in her hair all having the same pattern.

She scanned the room with her eyes before walking over to Mrs. Bustier's desk and climbing on top of it. She didn't speak, just simply opened her palms and allowed the bright yellow strings to wrap around her hands. The strings had to be at least ten feet tall, and as she held her hands high, her dull eyes locked on Adrien's shocked expression for a moment.

'Marionette' swung her hands downwards, and as she did that, the boy was quick enough to duck underneath the table. The strings wrapped themselves around the remaining people in the room, their screams making him flinch. He had to find a way to get out of there and transform, he also needed to find Ladybug. Whatever it was that made Marinette this way, they needed to stop her as soon as possible.

The girl tightened her grip on the strings and pulled, expression still empty as the screaming of her classmates stopped and their eyes went blank. She let go of the strings, allowing them to untie themselves from their victims' waist; instead wrapping around their arms and legs, as if they were puppets.

While that was happening, Adrien used the distraction and dashed out of the room; the door shutting behind him with an audible _bang!_

Marionette looked up and sighed. She raised one of her gloved hands, looking unimpressed as her 'puppets' followed her movements. Seeing as they were the fastest in the room, she send Kim and Alix after him, while the others stayed put and waited for her next orders.

The pink butterfly symbol appeared over her eyes and it wasn't long before Hawk Moth's voice rang in her ears.

 _Marionette, Chat Noir will be showing up soon. Don't forget to take his Miraculous!_

She nodded, but didn't give any other response. Instead, she raised her hand again, the yellow strings from before stretching and growing taller before ending up in Marionette's outstretched hands. She opened the door and walked out of the room, holding about ten strings in each hand and dragging her puppets with her as she walked. She could always drop the strings and use her powers to force them to come with her; but this was much easier.

She just needed to get Adrien and then the whole class would be complete and then they could be together, forever.

* * *

Adrien rushed into the boys bathroom, breathing heavily as he wondered what the hell just happened.

From what he knew, Marinette was a sweet and stubborn girl. She wasn't easily depressed, if that was the case, she would've been one of the first Akumas he and Ladybug would have had to fight with the constant nagging she got from Chloé. Whatever had caused her to be Akumatized must've been really serious, and if he was honest with himself, he was worried. Not because she was really powerful for some reason, but because it was _Marinette_ and he had felt somewhat protective of her ever since the Evillustrator incident.

"Plagg-"

The Kwami flew out of his jacket, looking a bit restless and for once ditching the lazy look he always wore.

"Hey," Adrien frowned. "What's wrong?"

Plagg ignored him at first, eyes wide and worried as he glanced left and right. The Kwami of Destruction looked up, as if just realizing that one of his kittens was standing in front of him. "Nothing," he answered. "Let's just get this over with already."

Adrien glanced at him suspiciously, but didn't question his strange behavior any further, they didn't have the time. "Right. Claws Out!"

The boy _just_ finished transforming before Kim and Alix ran in.

Chat Noir smirked, leaning against his staff as he glanced at Alix. "You _do_ realize that this is a boys bathroom, right?"

Neither of them responded, instead, the yellow strings started glowing brighter and Kim lunged for him. The hero dodged easily, holding his staff out in front of him to keep him back. "Whoa there! Didn't mean to pull your strings!"

His ears twitched and he glanced behind him to see Alix skating towards him, he waited until the last moment before jumping up; making the two crash into each other. While they were a heaping mess on the floor, Chat casually grabbed three rolls of toilet paper and somehow managed to tie the two together; all the while resisting the urge to scratch at the paper with his claws.

Damn these cat tendencies. Plagg could've informed him on these...side-effects beforehand. Who knows how many times he'd found himself intensely following a red dot with his eyes? He was lucky he didn't jump after it the moment he spotted it.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," he grinned as he walked towards the door, twirling his tail around. "You seem quite... _attached_ to each other."

He ran out of the door and his grin faded. The cat themed hero pulled out his baton and pressed the green call button shaped like a paw. The phone tried to connect while he was running through the school, but Ladybug either hadn't transformed or something was wrong.

Chat tensed and quickly hid in the locker room when he heard loud footsteps in the gym. He held his baton up so he could see what was happening in the reflection instead of looking himself and risking being spotted. He could see Marionette, looking as bored and emotionless as ever, while dragging their classmates and teacher with her by the strings she was holding.

"Princess..." he muttered, staring at the complete stranger in the body of his classmate. "I'll get you back to normal, I promise," his eyes narrowed and his voice hardened, clear determination on his face.

He growled and put the weapon away, quickly rushing to the window and climbing out of it and onto the roof of the school. As much as he _hated_ to admit it, he couldn't do anything until Ladybug showed up. He still hadn't figured out why, but Marinette was awfully powerful, even for an Akuma; not to mention she had her puppets to protect her. He couldn't just rush in, if she managed to get him; they were done for.

Even Ladybug herself couldn't possibly handle the sheer amount of power Marinette had.

* * *

Strangely enough, she only appeared once the sun had set and night fell.

He found her standing on the roof of the school, her back facing him. She had her arms crossed and was staring into the distance, the shadows covering the bright red of her suit, even with his night vision.

"My Lady! Where have you-"

She cut him off as a bitter laugh escaped her lips. _"My Lady, My Lady, My Lady,_ is that _all_ you can say, Chat? Pathetic," she spat.

He stopped his movements, confusion shining in his green eyes as he clutched his baton, not trusting this at all.

She laughed again, this time sounding a bit more mocking. "Face it, _Kitten,_ you're nothing without me! Destruction is good for nothing! It's me and my power of Creation that's keeping you alive!"

"M-my Lady?"

She shook her head, almost looking disappointed. "Tsk, tsk, Chat. There you go again with your 'My Lady'." She turned around and his heart stopped.

Now that she had turned, he got a better look on her. And as she walked further into the dim light, his vision just got clearer. "Newsflash, Chaton. Ladybug is _dead._ There's only place for Miss Fortune now!"

She grinned, looking more sinister than she had ever been. All the kindness had disappeared, replaced by complete and utter _hatred._ She wore the Ladybug suit proudly, only with a different color scheme. It was similar to Antibug's, black with red dots. Antibug's suit was still a bit bright though, this one wasn't.

'Miss Fortune's' suit was completely black, but unlike Antibug's- which was shiny -hers looked more pastel and matte. The red spots were more of a deep dark red color, matching the color of her lips. But the thing that caught Chat's attention the most were her eyes.

They weren't the blue as heavens color he had fallen in love with, instead, they were a bright and glowing purple.

That condescending grin of hers stayed on her lips as she stalked closer to him, using his shock to her advantage. She leaned closer to him, cupping his face with her hand and stroking it softly, staring straight into his eyes. "What's the matter, mon minou? You seem awfully quiet. Don't like this new change?" Her purple eyes seemed to shine even brighter as her grin widened. "Well, that's just... _unfortunate."_

Chat didn't even have time to process what was happening before she had taken his staff and aimed it between his legs before pressing the button and extending it; the staff hit his legs and she quickly pulled sideways, tripping him. She clicked the button again, watching it shrink before glancing down at her former partner. "I know I just said that your Destruction was nothing without my Creation, but now I really wish I had your powers. Maybe I could've destroyed your baton," she giggled. "Although let's face it, Destruction is much more fun when you're on the wrong side of the law."

The butterfly symbol appeared on her face and she rolled her eyes.

 _Miss Fortune! Take his Miraculous, now! It's the ring!_

"Yeah, yeah, I _know_ that it's the ring! Forgot who you're talking to, Papillon?" She rolled her eyes upwards in annoyance before looking down at Chat and smirking. "Well, kitty, seems like it ends here for you."

She stalked closer, slowly, almost tauntingly.

He still hadn't said a word, he just simply stared at her; not believing his eyes.

As Miss Fortune took another step closer, she bumped into an invisible wall and frowned. "What in the-"

"Ladybug...what happened?" An unfamiliar voice called.

A boy about their age landed in front of Chat. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes and wore a blue mask with thick white lines underneath each eye. He wore a blue bodysuit similar to theirs, although his was white from his neck to his shoulders with three blue dots down each side of his neck. He paired it with white gloves and a white line that went down each side of his body.

Miss Fortune slammed her hands against the invisible wall, her red tinted lips curling into a sneer as her purple eyes darkened. "Am I supposed to know you?"

"My name's Kid Mime, I'm a hero, like you."

She chuckled. "You're too late now, Mime boy, do I _look_ like a hero to you? I'm insulted."

The boy that dubbed himself 'Kid Mime' sighed and glanced behind him. "I'm guessing you're Chat Noir?"

Chat nodded, picking his baton up from the ground and pushing himself up. He moved to stand beside the blue-clad 'hero', staring at the caged woman in front of him with nothing but pain in his green eyes.

"Aww, Chaton, don't be sad!" She cooed, tilting her head. "Now you know for sure that we won't work out," she winked.

He flinched.

Chat didn't understand, normally, when someone got Akumatized, their personalities stayed the same. Sure, sometimes they would go a bit far because of the power Hawk Moth had granted them, but they were still the same. This...it was like he was talking to a completely different person. Ladybug was sweet, kind, brave and heroic. Miss Fortune was cruel, sadistic and just a bully. It was as if he was seeing a stranger in her body, just like with...

"Marinette," he whispered to himself, making her tense.

"What was that, minou?" She questioned, eyes shining dangerously.

Chat's eyes narrowed. "Princess? It's you, isn't it?" He called, louder this time.

"And he _finally_ figures it out!" She grinned. "Cats are supposed to be smart, right? Well, for a cat, you're pretty dense." She looked around the cage before glaring at Kid Mime. "I'm done with staying in here, so if you don't mind, _Lucky Charm!"_

Kid Mime's eyes narrowed and he stepped back. "We need to get out of here."

"But-"

"Chat, look at her, we can't do anything right now," the strange boy spoke, visibly getting more nervous as an object dropped down into her hands. "We need to figure out a plan before we go back to help her."

The hero glanced at him, before nodding and extending his staff; using it to shoot him half across Paris while Kid Mime mimed an airplane and followed him.

Miss Fortune broke free from the cage, watching the two leave with a thoughtful expression.

 _What in the world are you doing?! Go after them!_

She shook her head. "I don't think so, Papillon. Let them escape."

 _What?! Do **not** forget who's in charge here, girl-_

"I'm not forgetting, because as far as _I_ know, you need me too. So we're doing this my way or not at all, got it?" When he didn't respond, she smirked. "Good."

The blue haired girl jumped down from the roof, turning to look up at the sky. "We'll meet again, _mon petit minou."_

* * *

 _ **Goddamn it, I wrote another evil AU -_-**_

 _ **On another note, look! It's Kid Mime! Remember him?**_

 _ **Maybe I'll add the other Quantic Kids, who knows?**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**I do NOT like naming characters -,-**_

 _ **Edit: Never mind, I didn't have to name them; the fandom already gave them names. ^_^**_

* * *

Chat hadn't planned this.

Honestly, after the days events and between fighting Marinette and figuring out she was Ladybug; he was _exhausted._ He was just planning to go home, go to sleep, and hope that this was all a _really_ messed up bad dream.

But somehow, Kid Mime had managed to drag him to his 'hideout'.

Chat followed him to an old and abandoned building surprisingly close to his house, the brunet mimed a key before sticking it in the lock and pushing the door open. He walked in, motioning for the cat-themed hero to follow him. Chat looked behind him, narrowing his eyes suspiciously before following. Something was off.

He closed the door behind him and followed the sound of people talking in hushed voices, he entered a room with three people in it; Kid Mime, a girl sitting on a wooden crate and a boy standing beside her with his arms crossed. The girl smiled gently at him and waved at him in greeting, while the boy looked a bit suspicious but mimicked her actions.

"Guys, meet Chat Noir," Kid Mime started. "Chat, this is Melodie and that's Mercury."

Melodie's suit was an off-white color, music notes spread all over it. Her blonde hair was tied back, a band of the same color braided into it. Her blue eyes looked friendly through the mask, a black bent eight note around her left eye. Lines with black dots were spread all across her suit, some of the lines mimicking music notes but not entirely. In her right hand she held a flute of the same color as her suit, and Chat was instantly reminded of the incident with Lila turning into Volpina. The Akuma used a flute as a weapon back then too, but he had a feeling that Melodie's flute wasn't for illusions.

Mercury, on the other hand, was a strange one. Instead of wearing a suit, it looked like his entire _skin_ was blue with white lightning bolts all around it. His eyes seemed to be completely white, and real lightning flickered around him occasionally. His white hair lay messily on top of his head and Chat couldn't help but wonder if his hair didn't catch fire when the electricity touched it.

Chat was about to say something, but then his Miraculous started to beep and he froze. What was going on? He hadn't even used his Cataclysm yet, he shouldn't be detransforming, why was he-

The transformation wore off and he stood in front of the team in his civilian form with wide eyes.

Before anyone could react, Plagg dropped from the sky and Adrien quickly caught him with cupped hands. "Plagg! What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Adrien," the Kwami spoke. "It's just...Tikki's hurt and I'm powering down."

"Tikki?"

"Ladybug's Kwami," he explained. "We're linked together, if something happens to me, she feels it and vice versa. So if she dies..."

"You'll die too," he whispered in realization.

"That's not really what I'm worried about," Plagg muttered. "The longer Marinette's Akumatized, the more pain Tikki is in. We need to help them."

Adrien sighed. "I know."

The blond boy looked up and froze, completely forgetting about the other people in the room. They were all staring at him and Plagg with wide eyes, but not in shock or confusion, but almost in awe.

"So _that's_ a Kwami," Melodie breathed and Adrien frowned.

"Wait, you mean you guys don't have one?"

All three shook their heads, not really helping clear up his confusion. "Then how are you-"

"I still got a lot to tell you," Plagg cut in. "It's complicated, but basically, a while back, when there were a lot of problems in the world, some Kwami's decided to...'lend' their powers to humans without actually teaming up with them. I guess it stuck, which is how they got their powers."

"Anyway," Kid Mime cleared his throat. "Seeing as this was kind of...unexpected," his eyes locked on Melodie and Mercury. "We might as well, right?"

Melodie shrugged, leaning back on the crate; her arms supporting most of her weight. "Seems fair enough."

"You're talking unusually much, aren't you, Mime?" Mercury joked, making Kid Mime roll his eyes and smile. "But it's fine with me," he shrugged.

Before Adrien could ask what they were talking about, three flashes of bright light nearly blinded him and he was quick to cover his eyes. When he opened them again, he found all three in their civilian form. Kid Mime sighed and stretched. "Oh, that feels _much_ better!" His electric blue eyes landed on Adrien and he grinned, seemingly more carefree than he was a minute before. He stepped forward, surprising the blond boy by throwing an arm around is shoulder. "Well, my name's Claude," he introduced.

"Allan," Mercury cut in, giving a two-fingered wave.

Melodie smiled and jumped off the wooden crate she was sitting on, giving a playful bow as she said. _"Je m'appelle Allegra."_

Claude didn't change much from his superhero appearance, the only thing that changed were his clothes. He seemed much more carefree and hyper though, his shirt matching the pattern of his suit.

Same goes for Allegra, although her braid seemed a bit looser and her eyes a bit lighter. She wore light lilac pants and a matching long-sleeved shirt; a purple blazer over the shirt.

Allan was the one who (obviously) changed the most. He had golden brown eyes and dark skin, much like Alya and Nino. He wore brown pants and a green, somewhat baggy hoodie; a grey shirt underneath it. He also wore a green flat cap with a horizontal white line across it. He wore yellow-orange headphones around is neck, reminding him again of Nino.

Adrien crossed his arms and sighed, Plagg sitting contently on his shoulder. "Nice to meet you," he mumbled, although absentmindedly.

Claude locked eyes with Allan and Allegra before squeezing the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "Hey, cheer up! We'll save her, it's just an Akuma, right?" He spoke, voice chipper and optimistic, completely different from the friendly and formal tone he used earlier as Kid Mime.

"Yeah," Allegra agreed, clasping her hands behind her back. "The four of us together should be able to cure her in no time."

"No doubt you've done this before," Allan shrugged, his hands in his pockets. "So why worry?"

"Because this is different," Adrien stated, frowning. "Not only has she two forms, but she's extremely powerful for some reason-"

"Whoa, wait, _two forms?"_ Claude repeated, eyes wide as he let go of the green eyed boy.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm guessing it's because she's Ladybug, which could also be the reason why she's so powerful."

"So does that mean that she can, like, switch between forms whenever she wants?" Allegra asked, her smile fading a bit.

"I don't kno-"

"No," Plagg cut in. "She changes when the sun sets or rises. During the day she's Marionette, while she's Miss Fortune at night. Both have their pros and cons."

"Like?" Allan raised an eyebrow.

"Well, as Marionette she's much more timid and calm and rarely talks. But she also has her minions to protect her, not to mention that if she just manages to get you with her strings once, you become her next puppet. At night she's much more cruel and sadistic and doesn't really care what she does; as long as she accomplishes her goal. She's also stronger as Miss Fortune, because Ladybug's and Hawk Moth's powers are combined. Although it's much easier to distract her as Miss Fortune than as Marionette," he explained with a sigh. "At least, that's what Tikki tells me."

"Wait, you can contact Tikki?" Adrien asked.

"Faintly," he answered. "She's hurting, so the connection breaks occasionally, but she tells me as much as she can when she's got the chance." He sighed and looked away. "She doesn't care what happens to herself though, she keeps screaming at me to save Marinette," he scoffed. "Don't get me wrong, both of us are protective over our kittens and bugs, but Tikki tends to be a bit _over_ protective."

"Well, if we're gonna save her, shouldn't we try to figure out what caused the Akumatisation in the first place?" Allegra spoke up, tilting her head.

"Nice thinking, Allegra!" Claude praised, smiling.

Her face flushed dramatically. "Wh-what? I-I mean, uh, th-thanks, Cl-Claude," she stuttered, nervously fiddling with the bead necklace she wore as Allan smirked and Claude seemed completely oblivious to her sudden change in demeanor.

Adrien smiled, her behavior oddly reminding him of someone.

"Do you know where she lives?" The blue eyed boy asked, glancing down at Adrien and only then did the cat-themed hero realize how freakishly tall Claude was. He was maybe slightly shorter than Ivan but definitely taller than Kim.

He nodded. "Yeah, in the bakery across town, but we have to be quick, her parents are out of town and were returning today."

"Then why are we waiting?" Allan asked, his eyes turning completely white as blue electricity started to surround him. It didn't take long before Mercury stood there, zipping from place to place at top speed before finally stopping next to Allegra, who rolled her eyes.

"You're such a show-off."

"And you're terrible with expressing your emotions," he shot back, bouncing on his feet and making her eyes widen and face flush.

"Screw you," black music notes flew around her in circles, increasing in speed and numbers until dozens of music notes zipped around her in circles faster than Mercury had ran; until just a black blur was visible. When it disappeared, Melodie stood there, flute in hand and looking a lot more confident than she had a second before.

"Come on, guys, can't you go a _day_ without insulting each other?" Claude groaned, rolling his eyes when both of his friends smiled sheepishly at him. The brunet snapped his fingers, and unlike Melodie and Mercury, he blurred out completely before Kid Mime took his place.

The three stared at Adrien, looking at him expectantly and waiting for him to transform.

"You okay to go, Plagg?" He asked as the Kwami flew in front of him.

"Aww, you care," he joked. "Don't worry."

"Alright, Claws Out!"

When he finished transforming, Chat grinned cheekily and leaned on his staff. "Well, looks like I'll be your guide to my Princess' castle."

"Don't go too fast, Mercury," Melodie stated as she jumped on his back. "You actually need to _follow_ Chat, not race him."

Mercury rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're just scared of falling off if I go too fast."

"Who wouldn't be? You go, like, Mach 50 or something!"

He smirked, a flash of lightning flickering in his eyes.

Chat raised an eyebrow at them in question while Kid Mime just smiled.

"Melodie here isn't as fast as the rest of us," Mercury explained. "So she travels with me if we need to go somewhere."

The cat-themed hero shrugged. "Makes sense, let's go," he glanced around the room again, still having that feeling of discomfort, his gut was _screaming_ at him that something was wrong.

He hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.

* * *

The four heroes landed on Marinette's balcony and as Mercury put Melodie down, she stumbled and leaned against the closest thing for support, which just happened to be Chat. "Damn it, Mercury," she growled. "I told you not to go too fast!"

He rolled his eyes. "Not my fault you can't handle a little speed."

Melodie groaned loudly and Chat handed her to Kid Mime when he stepped forwards. "Don't worry," he spoke softly. "Next time you're traveling with me."

"And he speaks!" Mercury exclaimed while Melodie struggled to stutter out an agreement, eyes wide and face flushed.

Chat grinned and opened Marinette's balcony window, like he had done many times before when he visited her. Those were the only times that they could have a decent conversation without her acting weird or running away, he still didn't know why she did that, but he couldn't really ask, now could he?

They all entered the room, Melodie breaking away from Kid Mime when she felt a little less dizzy and lightheaded. They explored the room, looking for any kind of clue but making sure not to snoop too much to respect her privacy. Nobody touched her design book, for example, as Chat had stated that they were very special to her.

"Wow," Mercury said, looking at her wall with a bewildered expression. "She sure likes you, doesn't she, Chat?"

"What?" He looked up, freezing when he saw the multiple posters and photos of Adrien. That's strange, the last time he was here as Adrien there weren't any pictures; and when he was here as Chat, she made sure to cover them with a cloth, so he's never seen them before.

Mercury smirked. "Sure, she was _just_ a classmate?"

Chat didn't want to admit it, but his heart jumped at Mercury's implications. He shook his head. "She wants to be a designer one day, and all of those pictures are of me in my father's designs; it isn't really that strange."

Kid Mime whistled, catching the attention of everyone in the room. He motioned towards Marinette's computer and the screensaver of him; with hearts all over it.

"Got an explanation for that, Fluffy?" Mercury joked, raising an eyebrow.

Chat grinned. "I wouldn't be so _quick_ to judge, Speedy."

"Looks like someone has a crush," Melodie smiled, eyes snapping to Kid Mime for a second before looking away.

"More like obsession." Mercury noted, still staring at the pictures.

 _"Crush,"_ she shot back, crossing her arms and daring him to argue.

"I'm sure it's nothing like that," Chat denied.

Mercury rolled his eyes. "Why are all of you so dense?" His eyes went to the leader of the team for a second before focusing back on Chat. "How did she act around you?"

He shrugged. "Around Chat she was just normal, sometimes even playful and sassy. Around Adrien she was just acting really strange."

"Like Melodie?"

The girl blushed furiously, thankful that Mime was way too busy investigating to pay attention to their conversation.

The blond boy nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah...kinda like that, although maybe a bit worse."

Mercury rolled his eyes, and this time Melodie joined in. "Chat," she spoke. "Trust me, she has it _bad."_

"What-"

Kid Mime whistled again, and when they turned, he tossed an object at Chat; silently asking if it was familiar.

He froze. "What...why would she have this?"

"What is it?" Melodie asked, twirling her flute around in her fingers.

Chat opened his palm, still staring down at the object with confused green eyes. The purple butterfly brooch only brought bad memories for both him and her; so why would she have it? "It's Hawk Moth's brooch, I'm guessing it's a fake because his real brooch is his Miraculous."

"How come it's here?" Mercury asked, vibrating in place.

"That's what I'm wondering too."

After looking around some more, they left the room and climbed back onto the balcony. Kid Mime was pacing back and forth, obviously thinking about something while Mercury ran in circles at top speed; leaving Chat and Melodie alone.

The latter was staring almost dreamily at the brunet, while Chat was just staring off into space, images of Miss Fortune and Marionette still branded fresh into his mind. Miss Fortune's words stung the most.

"What's with him?" He asked, motioning towards Kid Mime. He figured that if he kept his mind off his Princess, all of this would go a lot easier.

"Hmm?" Melodie blinked, as if she just snapped out of her own little world. She followed his gaze towards the boy and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He was very talkative a while ago, and now he's so...quiet."

She chuckled. "Oh, don't worry, that's normal. We all have that. He _loves_ to talk, but he can focus better as Kid Mime when he's silent, so he talks as little as possible; his powers work better that way. He doesn't really like being quiet for so long, but he does it anyway, for the sake of the team." She sighed. "Guess it comes with being a natural leader. But we all have our little things like that; Mercury, for example, can't sit still. He _needs_ to keep moving when he's transformed or else he'll feel really uncomfortable and act all grumpy. And I need to keep humming once in a while or at least keep making up tunes in my head or else I'll get this really painful headache; which isn't really helpful when fighting, especially if I need to focus.

That's the downside of being given part of the Miraculous power instead of a Kwami to team up with, the side-effects suck. Although I'm sure you and...what was her name again? Marinette?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you two change a little personality-wise when you transform, but I'm guessing there aren't any downsides. Our changes are a little negative, but nothing we can't handle. They're just little things, nothing big." She explained, shrugging. "I mean, it could have been way worse."

Chat was about to speak, but his ears twitched and he tensed, eyes narrowing. "We need to get out of here."

Melodie blinked. "What?"

He didn't answer, instead he just grabbed her and jumped down from the balcony, signaling for the boys to follow him. They ran all the way across the street, with him still holding the startled hero. They hid in the shadows, far enough not to be seen, but not so far that they couldn't see the bakery.

Miss Fortune dropped down into the balcony and Chat tensed, he could feel Mercury placing a comforting hand on his shoulder; but he just kept his eyes focused on the scene. And as the sun began to rise, white and red sparkles started to surround Miss Fortune before Marionette stood in her place. The change was almost instant. The mocking and cruel smirk she wore got replaced by a blank and emotionless expression as she walked into the house, the yellow strings and her 'puppets' nowhere to be seen as she closed the balcony window behind her.

"She really has two forms," Melodie breathed, not sure if she should be awed or terrified.

Mercury stared at Chat a bit suspiciously. "How'd you know she was coming?"

"Cat instincts," he answered, eyes still focused on the bakery. "At least, that's what Plagg tells me."

He glanced down at the Hawk Moth brooch in his palm, jaw clenching as he made a decision. "I think we should go visit an old friend of mine."


	3. Chapter 3

_**That moment when you need to design a vehicle for a school project and you just HAD to make it difficult for yourself by designing Ghost Rider's motorbike as a car -_-**_

* * *

Marionette entered the room and stretched, sighing in relief as she was let out. She didn't really like the idea of sharing a body with Miss Fortune; but she couldn't really help it, now could she? Marinette just _had_ to be Ladybug.

She could hear Miss Fortune yelling and cursing, not too happy with being locked up until the sun set. She could also hear Tikki whimpering and pleading for her to come to her senses, and lastly, far in the back of her mind, she could hear Marinette screaming in agony. The girl _hated_ being forced to watch how two completely different personalities from her own swooped in and took control of her body, even if it was her own fault.

Besides, Marionette and Miss Fortune weren't even strangers; they were a part of her, as suppressed as they may have been. It _was_ Marinette's Akumatisation after all.

Surprisingly enough, the girl still had some amount of control over them; as little as it may be. In the classroom, she had purposefully slowed Marionette's threads down so that Adrien could escape; and when Miss Fortune was fighting Chat, she had completely snapped. For some reason, she hated the way Fortune threated the cat-themed hero and was damn near _boiling_ when her 'alter-ego' started using _her_ nicknames for him. Miss Fortune could've offed him from the start, and she would have, if Marinette hadn't started struggling as best as she could. Fortune had been annoyed at first, but then she took the opportunity to taunt and hurt him even more, purposefully angering their shared 'host' even further.

Unlike Miss Fortune, who found pleasure in bullying and taunting the cat, Marionette just found it _boring._ She didn't feel anything as she watched his shocked face, full of despair and pain. The only thing she felt was the slight sense of surprise at seeing Marinette struggle so much for the cat before she got bored of that too. The puppeteer was just content with sitting still and watching from the side-lines when it was her 'partner's' turn to go for a spin.

Miss Fortune had picked up on the girl's protectiveness too and had started to wonder if she cared more for the blond boy or the hero; but while she was trying her best to figure that out, Marionette just couldn't care less.

All she needed to do was get Chat's Miraculous, nothing more, and nothing less.

She mentally gave the order to all of her puppets to go home for the day and not do anything stupid, knowing that they would be forced to comply. She dropped in a little present for Miss Fortune, forcing them to act lifeless in front of their families, just like real puppets; just to satisfy her partner's sadistic urges.

Marionette dropped down on the bed and closed her eyes, well aware of the fact that Miss Fortune was throwing some _very_ colorful curses at her and Marinette and Tikki were still screaming to be let out; but she just ignored that. As powerful as she may be, she needed sleep or else she wouldn't even be able to fight _Chloé,_ let alone Chat Noir.

* * *

"Chat, care to explain where we are going?" Melodie hissed quietly, still a bit nervous from seeing Miss Fortune change into Marionette like that. It was...unsettling, to say the least; one Akuma was already bad enough, two in one was just terrible.

Chat glanced behind him, sighing when he found her looking _very_ uneasy and Mercury bouncing in place; not liking the fact that they were walking so slow. Kid Mime didn't seem to have any negative reaction, but then again, he was in full-on thinking mode. "You probably don't know him, but he's the one who gave me and Mari our Miraculous."

He suddenly felt a familiar surge of power course through him, and figured that Plagg was powering up again. He had been weakened the whole time because of Tikki, so him powering up again probably meant she was resting; which most likely meant that Marionette was resting.

"Come on, Mercury, let's go."

The speedster blinked. "What?"

"She's asleep, so it's safe to leap from the rooftops," he explained, pulling his baton out. "And I _know_ that you're uncomfortable with walking," he didn't wait for an answer, just extended his baton and disappeared into the sky.

"I...will never understand the connection between those two," Mercury muttered before running off, while Melodie and Kid Mime nodded in agreement.

The brown haired boy picked Melodie up without warning, holding her bridal style before running after the two heroes at rapid speed. He wasn't nearly as fast as Chat, and Lord forbid he was as fast as Mercury; but he could probably match Ladybug's speed.

He was a little worried he was going too fast though, Melodie's face seemed really pink as she stared at him with wide eyes. He'd have to ask her later.

Finally, they arrived at a tiny Chinese antique shop; Chat and Mercury waiting for them. Both boys smirked when they saw the state Melodie was in, not really helping with Kid Mime's confusion, but he ignored it and put the girl down.

"I have to warn you," Chat grinned, his eyes shining with mischief. "He's a little... _slow."_

The Quantic Kids glanced at each other in confusion as the cat-themed hero walked into the shop. They hesitantly followed him, not sure if they should trust that look or not.

Chat detransformed and knocked on an old wooden door hidden in the back of the shop. "Master Fu? You there?" He pushed the door open, finding the old man sitting in the middle of the room and seemingly meditating.

The elderly man cracked one eye open and smiled warmly. "Ah, Adrien, my boy, what brings you he-" he froze as his eyes landed on the three others standing behind him.

"It's them!" A green creature called, appearing out of nowhere and staring with wide eyes.

Kid Mime frowned, for some reason; both the man and the Kwami gave him a sense of familiarity.

Master Fu rolled his eyes and got up. "Wayzz, mind your manners, please."

Melodie groaned and slapped her forehead, remembering Chat's earlier words. "Turtle Miraculous, _of course."_

Mercury rolled his eyes while Kid Mime snickered and high fived the blond boy.

Adrien looked up at him as if he had just found his new best friend.

"It's been a while since I've seen you three," Fu spoke, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked up at them with a nostalgic smile.

"Uh.." Mercury shifted in place. "Do we know you?"

Master Fu smiled sadly. "I've been watching over you ever since I caught wind of you getting your powers, so no; you don't know me." His eyes shifted to Kid Mime and a knowing look crossed his face. "But he does."

Kid Mime jerked back in surprise, almost as if to say _'I do?'_ While Melodie, Adrien and Mercury voiced his thoughts by echoing "He does?"

Master Fu nodded.

The brunet scanned his memory for any sign of the man, his blue eyes widening when he realized who was standing in front of him. He promptly detransformed, not hesitating to give the old man a hug and not even worrying about harming the Turtle Miraculous holder; he was _way_ tougher than he looked. "Master Fu!" He cried happily once he had pulled away.

"He remembers!" Wayzz cheered.

Adrien blinked. "Well, that was unexpected."

Claude grinned and turned to face his friends, looking even more hyper than usual. "It's no secret I got my powers before you two," he nodded at Mercury and Melodie. "And while I was still learning about everything during that time, Master Fu showed up and taught me the basics until I met Melodie," he explained; nearly bouncing on his feet.

Mercury and Melodie glanced at each other before shrugging and changing back. And Plagg thought that was the right moment to make his presence known to the others. He zipped out of Adrien's jacket, or, at least tried to. The moment he increased in speed; he started feeling lightheaded and dropped down, until Fu caught him.

Wayzz zipped down, nothing but concern filling his tiny form. "Plagg! Buddy, what's going on?!"

Plagg groaned and sat up. "It's Tikki, you know how we work."

"That just made it worse!"

While Plagg and Wayzz were busy 'arguing', Fu looked up at Adrien for an explanation, who sighed.

"It's Mari," he explained, looking away. "I don't know how or why, but she ended up getting Akumatized." And so, he explained everything that had happened so far, not liking the fact that Fu's expression seemed to darken the longer he talked, until nothing but worry was left on the old man's face.

"Two forms, you say?" He repeated, and the four teens nodded in confirmation. "This is bad."

Adrien pulled the butterfly brooch out of his pocket and handed it to Fu. "We also found this in her room, but it's probably a fake."

Fu carefully took the brooch from the boy, examining it closely. The teens found it strange how both Plagg and Wayzz suddenly seemed very uncomfortable and looked torn between backing away from it or rushing to help it. The Kwami's locked eyes, almost as if asking the other what to do.

"This isn't a fake," Fu finally concluded, making all the heroes in the room do a double take.

"Wait, _what?"_ Melodie blinked.

"This is the real butterfly Miraculous," Fu explained further.

Adrien frowned. "You mean...she actually defeated him? On her own?" His eyes darkened as he tried to keep his cool, was she _crazy?!_ Both of them knew damn well how dangerous Hawk Moth could be, what in the world was she thinking, going after him alone like that? But then again, she _did_ manage to beat him.

Fu sighed and glanced up at the two Kwami's floating in the air, looking away when Wayzz sadly muttered 'Nooroo' underneath his breath while Plagg flinched. "Technically, she did, but if what you are saying is true...then she most likely did it wrong."

"How can you even do something like that wrong?" Allen asked incredulously, hands in his pockets.

Claude nodded in agreement. "Yeah, isn't she just supposed to cleanse it and be done with it?"

"Usually, that would be the case, yes. But with this particular Miraculous, it's different." Master Fu explained. "You need to cleanse an Akuma or else it will multiply, right?"

Adrien nodded, remembering all too well how they screwed up on their first Akuma.

"Now, when you destroy and cleanse the butterfly Miraculous- if it ever turned evil, that is -you need to make sure there are absolutely _no_ darkened butterflies left. Ladybug most likely didn't know that, when she broke the brooch, she probably didn't even get the chance to cleanse it before the butterflies attacked her and shaped her into what she is now."

"But...I remember you once saying that we needed to be more careful than the Miraculous holders because we actually could get Akumatized," Claude spoke up. "You said they were safe because of their Kwami's."

Allan and Allegra glanced at each other before turning their accusing gazes on Claude; not aware of that little fact.

Claude smiled sheepishly and took a small step back.

"That is true," Fu nodded. "A _normal_ Akuma couldn't, but because she destroyed the brooch, all of Nooroo's powers got unleashed. She was basically fighting against a Kwami instead of an Akuma."

Plagg scoffed and crossed his arms. "Tikki always had a soft spot for him, it was obvious she wasn't going to fight back; especially since he had no control."

Wayzz smirked and nudged him. "Relax, Mr. Lazy, Tikki has a soft spot for all of us. That's just how she is, no need to get your whiskers in a twist."

He glared at him. "Shouldn't you be hiding in your shell?"

"Boys," Fu sighed tiredly. "Quit it."

The tiny creatures echoed their apologies while Adrien smirked at his Kwami; eyes nearly shining as he thought of all the teasing he could come up with from the little bit of information he just heard. Plagg really was a hypocrite, teasing the blond for his crush on Ladybug while he had a thing for said girl's Kwami himself.

If he hadn't been so worried at the moment, he really would have said something.

"Wait," Allegra raised both of her palms, blue eyes looking worried as she looked up at Claude. "You once told us that Ladybug was the only one who could cleanse an Akuma, right? Then how can we save her if we need _her_ for it?"

As all three boys paled in realization, Fu and Wayzz shot accusing looks at Plagg.

"You didn't tell him?" Fu asked, seemingly surprised. "I thought you would explain everything to him beforehand."

Plagg glanced at Adrien, catching his gaze before looking away and sighing. "There's a reason I didn't."

"Didn't tell me what?" Adrien asked, furrowing his brows as he tilted his head in confusion; looking like a little kitten with curious green eyes as he did so. That didn't make it any easier for the Kwami as the little black creature puffed his cheeks and huffed in annoyance.

"Ladybug isn't the only one who can cleanse Akumas," he finally admitted, refusing to look at him. "You can do it too."

The reactions were instant; the Quantic Kids just looked surprised, Master Fu and Wayzz shot worried looks at each other, Plagg just looked uncomfortable, and Adrien...

Adrien just looked _pissed off._

Allegra whistled lowly. "Maybe we should go..." She muttered quietly, bouncing on the balls of her feet as her blue eyes went back and forth between Adrien and Plagg. Her discomfort was obvious, although she didn't really do much to hide it.

Both Claude and Allan started to protest, but shut up when she set her eyes on them.

"Boys," she spoke, her tone still as kind as ever but having a slight, demanding edge to it as she glared daggers at them. "I said that _we should go,"_ she hissed, putting emphasis on the last part to make sure they wouldn't protest.

And they didn't, as soon as those words left her mouth, they rushed out of the door; fearing for their lives. Compared to them, Allegra was tiny, hell, Adrien figured she might be Rose's size; if not smaller. But, despite her tiny frame, the girl was _scary._ Allan was the usual victim for her wrath because he was just an idiot and she liked Claude too much to do anything, but she wouldn't let her crush get in the way on the rare times that he needed to be set straight.

In short, the boys learned to listen to Allegra if they valued their lives.

The fact that she was usually a sweet and kind girl made it even scarier for some reason.

The blonde sighed and brushed the strands of hair that had gotten loose from her braid out of her face, smiling kindly at Adrien and Plagg before turning and walking after the two idiots that had just ran out like scared little girls, rolling her eyes as she did so. Fu and Wayzz stayed behind for a second or two, before walking out as well.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Adrien spoke stiffly, expression a mix between angry and hurt as he crossed his arms and stared at the Kwami.

Said Kwami of Destruction sighed. "Trust me, Adrien, I have a really good reason for that."

"Let's hear it then."

Plagg sighed again. "I was going to tell you at first, but you were too excited at the beginning and didn't even let me finish speaking, so I figured I'd do it later. But I didn't."

"Well, you should have!" He yelled. "Do you know how many times Ladybug and I could have cleansed an Akuma without her getting in _any_ type of danger? She wouldn't have to risk her life so many times!"

"Yeah but what about you?" Plagg shot back. "You were just going to end up like all the others if I told you!"

Adrien frowned and forced his heavy breathing to slow down. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that you're reckless, Adrien," Plagg rolled his eyes. "You don't even _hesitate_ to jump in front of Ladybug whenever she's in danger. She's the only reason you're _alive,_ you know? Because if she hadn't been there, you would have been dead because of all your stunts!"

The boy's mind flashed back to the words Miss Fortune spat at him and his jaw clenched. "So she's said."

Plagg's eyes widened. "I.." he sighed. "I didn't mean it like that, Adrien, you know that."

"But you said it."

"What I meant was that you should learn to think before you act," he explained, toning down his voice a bit. "And yeah, I know that must be rich, coming from me, but it's true. You don't know this, but you actually _died_ once, you know?"

Adrien frowned. "What?"

Plagg crossed his tiny arms. "I can only tell you what Tikki told me because well; _we were dead._ But when we had to fight Timebreaker, you jumped in front of Ladybug and took the hit for her; erasing from existence in the process."

"But...we saved Alix," his brows furrowed. "There were even two Ladybugs at the time, for some reason."

"Because she went back in time," Plagg explained. "All I could sense from Tikki was pain, but not the physical kind, I was trying to figure out what was wrong the whole time until she finally told me. Ladybug was acting protective too, remember?"

"So that was what that all was about..." he muttered lowly, before looking up. "But this still doesn't explain why you didn't tell me about me being able to cleanse an Akuma."

"On the contrary, it explains everything," he said. "You see, you don't really _cleanse_ the Akuma, you absorb it."

Adrien did a double take at that. "Come again?"

The black cat Kwami couldn't help but smile at that. "Ladybug can cleanse Akumas without a single problem, Chat Noir absorbs all the evil energy it has. The more he does it, the more evil he gets...or, he could end up dying. I didn't tell you because I know you, Adrien. You wouldn't mind dying if it was to save her and Paris."

"As a hero, you shouldn't care about that."

"Even if that's true, for a Kwami it lies differently." Plagg argued, frowning. "It hurts, okay? Do you know how _many_ kittens I lost because of that single ability? Be it corruption, or death, I lost them because I couldn't protect them enough. Tikki tried to help me many times, even if we had to fight against each other when my kittens turned bad. She's lost some bugs too, so she knows how it feels, but most of hers turn out okay. _I'm_ the one who usually screws up." He admitted and Adrien's green eyes softened.

"Plagg..."

"Losing an 'assignment' is really painful, Adrien. Because they aren't just _assignments,_ you start seeing them as your own children because of the bond you have. Nooroo used to be really happy and a social butterfly, but after he lost one of his caterpillars, he turned into the nervous and emotional wreck he is now.

It all does something to us, you won't see it with Tikki, because she's good at hiding it. But with the others it's different. Wayzz stopped smiling when his first hatchling died, Lizzie* already was a paranoid wreck to begin with, but she got even more paranoid after her first larva. Riin* got a lot more defensive after her first peachick. And, out of all of us, Nadie* probably suffered the most. She's already very motherly to begin with, and as much as I hate her babying us; I don't even _want_ to know how she feels when she loses one of her cubs."

"Okay."

Plagg looked up. "What?"

Adrien shrugged. "I said okay," he smiled. "I understand why you didn't tell me. And I promise I'll only do it once, and that's to save Marinette."

Plagg smiled, but that faded quickly when both of them heard Allegra scream.

* * *

 _ ***If you've read my Unfortunate fic, then you recognize Lizzie and Nadie. And yes, I know that I said that this didn't tie in with that story, AND IT DOESN'T! But I already created those two as Queen B's and Volpina's Kwami's, I'm not going to create two whole new Kwami's with different personalities for the same characters.**_

 _ ***As for Riin, if you hadn't figured it out; she's the Peacock Miraculous Kwami. I got the name for her from tumblr user mellymiraculous.**_

 _ **Okay, yes, this is an uneventful chapter; I know. But it's needed to push the story forwards.**_


	4. Chapter 4

Chat Noir had transformed and ran out of the small shop the moment he had heard Allegra scream, not wasting any time. He found Melodie, surrounded by all his classmates, and Mercury holding Kid Mime back. Fu and Wayzz were standing beside them, watching the whole scene with sad expressions on their faces.

Marionette was standing on the roof, watching everything while wearing a bored expression on her face. Her eyes snapped to Chat for not even a second before she turned her attention back on her 'minions' capturing Melodie.

"Dude, hurry up!" Mercury called, still struggling to hold the brown haired boy back.

Melodie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because it's _so_ easy to take care of twenty hypnotized people at once!"

"I would help you, but your boyfriend here will do something stupid if I don't stay here!"

"He's not my- ugh, forget it," with a bright red face, the blonde pulled out her flute and put it to her lips; starting to play a soft and calming tune. Not even a minute later, Nathanaël dropped to the ground, before one by one, all the others mimicked him. Melodie stopped playing once they all were down. "Mercury!" She called.

Said boy smirked and let go of Kid Mime, before disappearing in a blur and zipping past Chat at top speed. He quickly picked up everyone before dropping them in front of Kid Mime, who created an invisible box for them to stay in, in case they woke up. "You okay?" He asked after he was done, turning his attention to Melodie.

"Y-yeah, no problem!"

Chat wasn't even listening to the conversation, his attention was set on Marionette; who was watching the scene with narrowed blue eyes. She turned around and ran away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop like she had done a million times before. And, like the idiot he was, Chat followed her; ignoring his newfound friends as they called his name and warned him not to go.

He chased after her, catching up with her quickly. He always had been faster than her when she wasn't using her yo-yo, and seeing as that particular toy was in the possession of Miss Fortune, it didn't really take him much effort.

But then again...she wasn't really putting much effort in trying to escape.

"Marinette!" He called, and she paused.

The girl sighed, as if she was disappointed. "Wrong," she muttered, her voice soft and timid; but still rid of any kind of emotion. It was the complete opposite of the condescending and taunting tone Miss Fortune used; and even further away from Marinette's sweet and kind tone.

She turned around and raised her hand, eyes cold as the yellow strings appeared and dashed towards him. But instead of turning him into one of her puppets, they knocked him down and tied him to the ground.

Chat chuckled nervously. "Princess, come on. You know I'm loyal to you, no need to tie me down."

Marionette didn't look impressed, she didn't even roll her eyes at him. Her face stayed expressionless, looking like a porcelain doll the whole time as she walked towards him and grabbed a hold of his hand, delicate little fingers sliding over his before covering his ring. He could feel her grip loosening for a second as her hand jerked and an annoyed expression crossed his face, and a crazy idea crossed Chat's mind.

"She's there, isn't she?"

She froze.

His eyes scanned her face, and for the first time, he could actually _see_ an emotion in her eyes. Fear.

Marionette started shaking and her eyes widened, and from that moment Chat knew that something was wrong. He was talking to the wrong girl.

"Mari?"

Her terrified blue eyes locked on his green ones and he would be lying if he said his heart didn't break.

"Help...me..." she gasped out, before all the emotion disappeared and her eyes went cold again.

She grabbed his hand again, and this time, Marinette wouldn't be there to stop her. So he did the only thing he could think of.

 _"Cataclysm!"_

The strings that were on his right hand instantly turned brown and crumbled into dust as he clenched his fist. Marionette didn't have enough time to act before he was already free. She took slow and cautious steps back, the look on his face clearly telling her he wasn't going to hesitate in fighting back now. He pulled out his staff and she clenched her jaw, waiting for his first move.

"Chat!"

Both teens looked down to see the Quantic Kids heading towards them. Marionette clenched her fists, not really liking what she was about to do, but she knew when she was outnumbered. So, when he was distracted, she summoned her strings. And, while Chat wasn't looking, she jumped off the roof and swung from building to building, using her strings in the same fashion she did her yo-yo.

Chat looked behind him and sighed before jumping down to meet the others. "She's still there," was the first thing he said when he landed on the ground.

"Wait," Mercury blinked. "What?"

He sighed. "Marinette, don't ask me how, but she's still there. She stopped Marionette long enough for me to escape."

Melodie crossed her arms. "We really need to do something, and fast."

* * *

Night fell, and Chat was already dreading what was about to happen.

He was currently sitting in the room the others had set up for him in their hideout, thinking everything through. Everyone had already gone to sleep, absolutely _exhausted_ from the day's events. But while they were sleeping soundly, Adrien was still lying wide awake in bed. Images of Marinette smiling and joking with her friends and Chat kept flashing through his mind, paired with the amount of blushing and nervous smiling she did when he was around. It was actually a little...endearing, if he was being really honest.

Images of Ladybug appeared too, of the smile she always seemed to wear whenever they cleansed an Akuma, or the confident look in her eyes that he had only seen disappear once; and that was when they first started out as heroes. Even when Volpina had forced her to almost give up her earrings it didn't fade, she was confident in what she was doing; dejected, yes, but still confident. And he admired that about her.

It was probably one of the things he had fallen for.

But then again, that confidence definitely increased tenfold with Miss Fortune; which automatically made it a bad thing.

Plagg had explained that, even if it seemed to be the other way around; they had a better chance with Miss Fortune than with Marionette. While Marinette had more control with the latter because she wasn't as strong as the former; she was more focused on the job of getting Chat's Miraculous. Miss Fortune honestly didn't care and just did all this for fun. They needed to stop her, but for that, Chat needed to focus.

If he was honest with himself, he still couldn't wrap his head around all this. Hawk Moth was gone, but in his place, Marinette got Akumatized. He still didn't know how or why all this happened, and he guessed that he wouldn't figure out until they had managed to save her...even if that seemed to be nearly impossible. She was strong, _insanely_ strong; not to mention she had two forms. How had Hawk Moth even-

Wait a minute.

Master Fu said that the brooch they found in her room was the real deal and that Nooroo was most likely trapped in there and doing this against his will. And while that might be true, was there any proof that Hawk Moth really was gone? He could clearly remember the butterfly symbol framing her face, both in the classroom as Marionette, and on the rooftop as Miss Fortune. If he really was gone, then he wouldn't be able to-

The cat-themed hero jumped when his baton went off and a ladybug symbol flashed on the screen. She was calling him? But why would she...?

He pressed the answer button, hesitant (and a little scared) of what she was going to say. The sun had already set, so he should probably start mentally preparing for the verbal destruction she was about to throw at him.

The first thing he saw was a _very_ familiar building burning, before Miss Fortune's face appeared on screen, that sadistic glint and cruel smirk still present on her face. "Hello, Chaton!" She greeted cheerfully, briefly wiping at her lipstick. "Do you like it? I set the school on fire _just_ for you!" She turned the camera on the school again, forcing the stunned cat to watch. The flames were already reaching the third floor.

"You set the school on fire," he muttered, still in disbelief as he stared at the screen with wide eyes.

Miss Fortune grinned. "Cats really have great eyesight, don't they?"

She was stalling, that much was obvious, so he quit the conversation and hung up; immediately rushing to the room nearest to his, which just happened to be Claude's.

"Claude!" He hissed quietly. _"Claude!"_

The brown haired boy didn't respond. Even after he had poked him with his baton, he just turned on his side and snored loudly in his sleep. Had it been any other situation, Chat would have filmed this and used it as blackmail material. But now was not the time.

And seeing as Claude was apparently a deep sleeper, he had to settle this a different way.

Chat rushed forward and effortlessly tipped the bed over before putting it back down, watching as the boy fell off the bed with a harsh thud. Claude groaned lowly, tiredly sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his electric blue eyes. "Chat? What the hell?"

"No time to waste, Sleeping Beauty, we need to hurry."

"What?"

"Miss Fortune set the school on fire!

His eyes shot open and he quickly jumped up, all the sleep instantly disappearing from his body. "What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

The green eyed boy rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, heading towards Allan's room to wake him up, seeing as Allegra had woken up the moment she had heard Claude fall from the bed. Apparently, she was the only light sleeper in the house.

When they arrived at the scene, they could hear a voice singing a haunting tune in the distance, and chills ran down Chat's spine.

 _Ladybird, ladybird, fly away from home._

 _Your house is on fire._

 _Your children shall burn!_

As Kid Mime mimed a fire hose to put out the fire and Mercury started running around in circles to create wind strong enough to blow out the fire, Miss Fortune landed behind Chat and Melodie.

The purple eyed villain glanced between the two back and forth before setting her eyes on Chat and faking a hurt expression. "What? You replaced me _already?_ I'm hurt, mon minou, deeply hurt!" Her eyes went blank for a second before her smirk widened and she let out a laugh. _"Oh!_ Marinette does _not_ like that idea! Come on, little girl! We both know this cat is too hopeless to actually replace you!" She called loudly, as if that would help with Marinette hearing better.

Chat's breath hitched and Melodie shot him a worried look before tightening her grip on her flute. "So she can see and hear everything that's going on?" She clarified. _"Everything?"_

Miss Fortune hummed in confirmation, her grin widening. "And let me tell you, she _hates_ watching from the sidelines."

"No princess likes watching her evil stepsisters take the lead." Chat muttered, clutching his baton.

"Hmm," A thoughtful expression crossed her face as she grabbed her yo-yo. "You've got a point there...but I wonder, do princesses like seeing their Prince Charming get hurt?"

As she said that, both Melodie and Chat took defensive stances, which didn't sit very well with Miss Fortune.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Melodie. "Oh no, I can't have you interfering. Marinette needs to see her little _pet_ get hurt, so I brought someone to keep you entertained," she whistled loudly and it didn't take long before both teens covered their ears in pain as the sound of an off-tune guitar went off.

Melodie shivered. "Ugh, that was even worse than someone inexperienced trying to play a song in B-minor."

Chat blinked. "What?"

A man with pink hair and very flashy clothes jumped from the roof, carrying a guitar. Chat cursed, instantly recognizing this particular person while Melodie just stared with wide eyes.

"How?" Chat asked incredulously.

Miss Fortune shrugged. "Marionette is practicing with turning her puppets into former Akumas, and she succeeded with this one before the sun set. I thought I'd make use of him."

"Wait...is that Jagged Stone?" The blonde girl muttered.

"The name's Guitar Villain, girlie," he smirked. "What, you a fan?"

Melodie shook her head. "Nah, not really. I'm more into classical music, you see," she waved her flute around.

Guitar Villain glared and ran his fingers across the strings of his guitar again, with a little more force than needed. Melodie yelped and shot back, crashing into a nearby wall and struggling to get up as he followed her.

"Melodie!" Chat was about to run after her to help, but Miss Fortune blocked his path.

"Oh no, kitty cat! How about you pray her ears won't start bleeding while we finish this?"

His eyes narrowed.

She swung her yo-yo, and he instinctively blocked.

That's how it went the entire time, her throwing punches and kicks and such, while he kept blocking.

"I have to say," she started, in the middle of the fight. "You're either really stupid or really dense." She kicked him.

He blocked it by catching her foot mid-air, but she twisted it away before he could trip her. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Marinette."

He looked up, blocking her yo-yo with his staff for the second time. "Do you really think you're going to distract me this way?"

"No," she smirked. "But you have the right to know."

"Know what?"

"About her crush on Adrien."

He froze. "What?"

Miss Fortune giggled. "She's had a crush on that boy ever since he apologized and told the truth about the whole gum thing. A little childish, don't you think?"

He swallowed. "And _why_ exactly are you telling me this?" _Does she know?_

"Because she finally was starting to get over it," she shrugged, jumping onto a roof.

Chat followed her. "What do you mean?"

"I _mean_ that before all this happened, her crush on that boy started to fade," she explained, grin widening the longer she talked. "And do you know why? Because a certain black cat was starting to capture her heart little by little."

This time, he froze completely. _"What?"_

Miss Fortune smirked and took her chance, sending him flying off the roof with one swift kick to the gut. She jumped off after him and threw her legs over him before straddling him, her eyes shining as she grinned down at the stunned hero. "You didn't expect that, did you, Chaton? Who would guess that sweet little Marinette liked the bad type?" She paused. "Or...well...the somewhat bad type, I guess."

"You're lying," he stated, ignoring her last remark.

She raised an eyebrow. "Am I now? What gave you the impression?"

 _Mari's going to kill me for this._ "The pictures in her room."

"Simple," she smirked. "If you know her best friend Alya, then you know why she can't change them. The teasing wouldn't stop. Besides, she's still a bit torn between you two, although she seems to be _a lot_ more conflicted when thinking about you, kitty."

"Her screensaver?"

"She has this folder labeled 'Chat' hidden somewhere in her computer. I'd tell you to look at it, but I know you won't. You 'respect her privacy' enough to not even _look_ at her design book- and yes, I know about that."

"Fortune?" He muttered, voice low.

"Yes, minou?"

"Stop talking," he placed his baton right in between them, before pressing the button. As the weapon extended, it hit her into her abdomen with full force, effectively knocking her back; _just_ as Melodie landed beside him. She didn't look very pleased.

Chat helped her up. "Are you o-"

"I'm done," she growled, eyes narrowing.

"What are you-"

She pulled her flute to her lips, and instead of playing the calming tune she used before; she played a quick and loud tune. Chat watched in amazement as the tip of her flute started to spark, before flames burst out of it. The flames grew taller and taller, until they were as tall as her own arm. But, even if the flames burned brightly, Chat couldn't feel any heat coming from it; in fact, it acted more like a solid sword than anything else.

As Guitar Villain raised his hand to blow them away with his guitar, Melodie glanced behind her. "Grab my shoulders."

"Why?"

 _"Just do it."_

He quickly did as asked, he had seen how Claude and Allan reacted when she was irritated, and frankly, he did _not_ want to know why.

The moment he had grabbed her shoulders, she stabbed the flaming 'sword' into the ground and waited as the villain swung his hand across his guitar. Surprisingly enough, the duo didn't even budge; even when Guitar Villain increased the sound and power of his guitar.

Chat let go when Melodie pulled her weapon out of the ground, he kept watching as she rushed forward and fought the older man with newfound strength. Somehow, she moved quicker; her attacks turning a lot more powerful than they were a minute before. It didn't take long before he lay knocked out on the floor.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat, and they both turned to see Miss Fortune standing behind them, clapping her hands together in a slow applause.

"Impressive," she praised, smirking when the fire on Melodie's flute increased; ready to attack. "But, seeing as the two boys over there are nearly done with dousing the fire, I will be taking my leave. Call me a coward, call it a strategic retreat, I don't care. Just..." her eyes set on Chat and her purple eyes seemed to be glowing as her tinted lips curled up. "Don't follow me, kitty. It won't be smart. Trust me."

She turned and swung her yo-yo, not even looking back at Guitar Villain still laying unconscious on the floor.

Mercury zipped in front of them. "We killed the fire-" his eyes landed on the flaming sword Melodie was holding and he whistled. "Whoa, who pissed you off enough to use your sword?"

While Kid Mime caught up to them and listened to what happened from Melodie, Chat turned and watched the school, the once happy looking place now looking black and burned.

Melodie was right, they really did need to act fast.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Ugh, I want to write a Chat Blanc fic but I still need to finish this one _**_

* * *

"We need to think of a plan to stop her," Mercury stated, staring at the burned building. "She's getting way too dangerous."

"Yeah, but-" Chat's ears twitched and his green eyes widened as he cursed. "You guys need to leave."

Melodie frowned. "What?"

"Just go! Trust me," he hissed, looking behind him and checking if anyone else was around before detransforming. His eyes were panicked, nearly frantic as he stared at them. Kid Mime frowned, just as confused as the rest, but he got the message. Without warning, he scooped Melodie up in his arms and motioned for Mercury to run as she yelped and started stuttering; her face red.

Just as they left, a sleek black limousine pulled up in front of the school. Adrien just simply stood there, his hands clasped behind his back and a sheepish smile on his face. Gorilla and Nathalie stepped out of the car, both of them looking suspiciously nervous for some reason. Adrien found it especially strange how Gorilla refused to look at him, while Nathalie was prone to ignoring him from time to time, (albeit unintentionally) the boy saw Gorilla as a friend...even if he talked less than Kid Mime did.

"Adrien, you need to go home." Nathalie whispered, her voice losing the normally stoic and formal tone she used with him. Instead, she looked like she was...pleading? Although not for her.

The blond frowned. "Nathalie, what's going on?"

She locked eyes with Gorilla and sighed. "You-"

"Son, what did you think you were doing?"

Adrien tensed, his eyes widening as that familiar voice rang in his ears. He looked up to see Gabriel Agreste's stern blue eyes fixed on him, not looking too impressed; not at all.

"F-father!" He stuttered. "I-"

"Where have you been these past two days?" He cut him off, his tone wasn't angry or worried. He wasn't concerned at all, not even in the slightest. He used that stoic tone at all times; asking about his son's whereabouts more as a necessity than as genuine concern, or even curiosity. It was clear in the way he kept his hands clasped behind his back and stood straight, keeping his head high even when talking to the _much_ shorter boy.

Adrien sighed, he figured that the man didn't actually _want_ to know where he's been; so he could come up with the shittiest lie and be done with it. But Nathalie and Gorilla were there, and from the look on their faces, they actually _cared,_ so he put at least a little effort in the lie. "I'm looking for my friend," he stated, making sure to keep his voice even but sincere at the same time. "Ladybug got Akumatized and Marinette is missing, you remember her, right?"

"The girl from the hat," he responded, and Adrien clenched his fists. She was _much_ more than 'that girl from the hat'.

"Adrien," Nathalie spoke up, looking genuinely worried. "Do you know how dangerous that is? If something is wrong with Ladybug, you should just leave that to Chat Noir-"

"I don't care," he cut in, biting his cheek to stop from smiling at her words. The irony was just _perfect._ "She's my friend, what if Chat Noir can't do anything because he doesn't want to hurt Ladybug? That won't help my Pr- Marinette."

Gabriel's eyes narrowed. "You care a lot about her, don't you, son?"

"I care about my friends," he responded, his tone matching that of his father's, despite the blush staining his cheeks at his implications. Normally he would have wondered if he was _that_ obvious about his feelings, but this was his father. He was willing to bet that the only person he loved was Adrien's mother, and maybe him. It was obvious he'd jump to (somewhat right) conclusions.

The silence was getting unbearable, and Adrien swore he could hear crickets in the background. The fact that Gabriel was staring at him with narrowed, calculating eyes didn't really help much either. It was almost like he knew something and was hiding something else, something big. "So you're saying that _girl_ disappeared the same time Ladybug got Akumatized?"

Adrien's eyes narrowed. He didn't know why, but something told- no, _screamed_ at him to lie to his own father. As much as he loved his father, he didn't trust him at all; especially when he was asking shady questions like these. "She got taken," he answered quickly. "Ladybug crashed into the classroom two days ago and took her for some reason. I wasn't about to just sit down and do nothing."

The man nodded his head, still looking thoughtful, although the suspiciousness had wore off. "Let's go home," he said, not even waiting for a response as he turned and got into the car.

The boy clenched his jaw, about to open his mouth to refuse; but Nathalie's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked up to see her staring at the burned down school with worried eyes before looking down at him. "Just come with us, Adrien," she whispered softly. "It's dangerous here."

Something in her expression made him sigh and agree, and when his father called his name from the car; he just responded with a simple 'yes Father' and stepped into the backseat of the limousine.

While Gorilla was driving, Adrien had crossed one of his legs over the other, frowning as he stared at his bright orange shoes. He had never put much thought in it, but why would Gabriel put black butterfly silhouettes on his son's shoes instead of the logo of his brand? It was really unusual when you thought about it, but then again, he didn't really pay much attention to what was stylish and what wasn't. He'd ask Marinette about it, but...

He sighed and stared at the window, biting the inside of his cheek when he spotted three certainly colorful teens hiding in the shadows and following the car with their eyes.

* * *

Melodie showed up at his window later that night.

Adrien lay in his bed, hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling with Plagg sleeping on the pillow beside him. It was the first time the Kwami actually _slept_ since Tikki and Marinette got turned.

He wasn't sure what to think, seeing his father actually was a surprise for him. Between him always working and Adrien being a superhero, he rarely saw him; if ever. The only communication the two ever had was through Nathalie, or his face on a tablet. Maybe he really was worried, why else would he join Nathalie and Gorilla in looking for him? Adrien knew how busy his schedule was, did he really make time to-

Someone knocked on his window, and for a second, he hoped it was Ladybug. But when he heard a soft tune playing, he knew it couldn't be her.

He nearly jumped out of bed and opened the window, ushering her in. "What are you doing here?" He hissed quietly, not wanting to wake Plagg or get Nathalie's attention.

Melodie stretched, not very used to climbing on buildings and windows; she tended to leave that to the boys since she rarely had to because of her lack of speed. "Well, even if I'm the slowest of the bunch, I'm still a lot more agile than both Kid and Mercury so-"

"I meant _why,_ Melodie," he sighed.

She rolled her eyes. "Isn't that obvious? I'm busting you out!"

"You're acting like I'm kept prisoner."

Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. "What's going on, Adrien?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I...actually don't know," he admitted, pulling out his desk chair and motioning for her to sit down before sitting down on his bed. "Something is wrong, that much is clear. My father never...he never shows up like he did today. It was almost as if...he _knew_ I was going to be there and wanted to catch me in the act."

Melodie's eyebrows rose. "You think he knows?"

"No...yes, I don't know!" He groaned and dropped his head in his hands, clearly frustrated. "It's just hard to tell with him."

Melodie sighed and looked around the room, wondering why the boy in front of her would ever want to leave this place. But then again, a skate ramp in your bedroom isn't as awesome when you're lonely. "I know how you feel," she finally admitted; her eyes still focused on her surroundings.

Adrien looked up, waiting for her to continue.

Instead, she locked eyes with him. "Does your father love you?"

He shrugged. "I guess so, he's the type to just tell you when he hates you or something; and I haven't heard that from him so I guess he does?"

She smiled. "He most likely does. Now, do you love him?"

The response was almost immediate. "Yes."

"And that's where we are different."

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Melodie focused on twirling her flute around in her hand, a sad expression on her face. "You see, my family only kept me to keep up appearances. From the moment I was born, I lived in a loveless home. My parents raised me to be a very polite and smart girl, which made it easier for me to see that they were just pretending to love each other...and me. They made me do multiple things, I think you know the basics."

"Fencing, Chinese, Photoshoots, Piano and boring parties?" He guessed, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Ballet, German, Interviews, Flute _and_ boring parties," she corrected, her eyes twinkling.

"I never understood that, I mean, isn't French and English enough?"

"Tell me about it, but then again, my parents ran a big company and a lot of people came from Germany, so I guess it made sense?" She shrugged. "My dad was the owner of this huge bank or something, and he married my mom because she came from a family that owned various companies that sold diamonds and jewelry. So now they have a bank that also keeps various diamonds," she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Needless to say, it took a lot of their time."

He chuckled.

"The point is, they never had time for me. I was treated like the little golden princess that needed to be hidden from humanity because she was too fragile," she huffed and Adrien tried not to laugh. The _idea_ alone of Allegra being fragile was laughable. "The only company I had was my cat Melody, until she died when I was nine; after that I was all alone. At some point I thought I was gonna go _crazy,_ I had to keep playing the flute until I could _dream_ the songs and chords. You don't know how pissed I got when I found out my powers were based on music."

Her eyes focused on her flute and she smiled softly. "Although it isn't so bad, now that I think about it. At least it's something I'm good at so that I don't screw up. I ran away immediately after I got my powers and met Claude, it was just the two of us for a couple of weeks before we found Allan. At first I didn't want to tell them about my past because I thought they'd judge me for running away just for being a little neglected. But then I found out that Claude was an orphan and escaped from the orphanage and that Allan came from an abusive family; so, in a way, we were all runaways."

Adrien whistled lowly, compared to all that; he had no right to complain. At least he was allowed to have friends, even if that only happened because he tried to run away to school multiple times.

Melodie crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. "I suppose you're not coming with me? Mercury is freaking out, he keeps running around the room and rambling about how you sacrificed yourself to save us. Honestly, he's being a little dramatic."

He chuckled. "I want to, believe me, I do. Saving Marinette is top priority, but I don't think I can sneak out. I overheard Nathalie and Gorilla talking about my dad asking them to keep a closer eye on me."

Before Melodie could respond, Plagg shot up from the bed; looking even worse than when he heard about Tikki being in trouble.

Adrien reacted immediately. "Plagg! What's wrong?"

The Kwami stared at him with wide eyes. "Where's your father?"

The green eyed boy frowned. "Not home, Plagg, what-"

"You mean you don't hear it?"

Adrien and Melodie locked eyes, both wearing equally confused expressions. "Hear what?"

He sighed. "Right, you aren't Chat Noir right now. Just...just follow me." With that, he zipped past them, straight through the door and the teens rushed to catch up with him.

They ended up in Gabriel's office and the safe where Adrien had found the Miraculous book. Plagg didn't say anything as he unlocked the door and called. "Nooroo? Nooroo! Where are you?!"

Adrien frowned. "Wait, Plagg, what's going on? Who's Nooroo?"

"He's the butterfly Kwami! Remember what I told you?" He responded, still looking around. "And I can feel him, he's somewhere in here-"

"Plagg? Is that you?" A soft and timid voice called hesitantly, but unlike Marionette's tone, this just sounded nervous.

"Over here!" Melodie called, pointing to the top of one of the bookshelves with her flute; where a light pink creature was hiding.

Plagg flew up towards the creature hiding behind one of the books and tugged lightly on its wings. "Nooroo! Come on, what are you doing?!"

"Hiding," he responded softly.

The Kwami of Destruction rolled his eyes. _"Why_ are you hiding?"

"Because you're mad at me," he whimpered softly, further hiding behind the book.

Plagg stared at him in surprise. "Why would I be mad at you?"

Nooroo peaked his head out, staring at him with wide, guilty and teary eyes. "Because of what happened to Tikki."

"Plagg," Adrien called when he saw him roll his eyes in annoyance. "Come on, be gentle. He's obviously feeling guilty."

Nooroo peaked his head out again, staring at Adrien with wide eyes before turning back to Plagg. "Is he your kitten?"

Plagg nodded.

The butterfly Kwami's eyes locked on the boy again, this time in awe. "You've grown so much! If Riin could see you now..."

Adrien froze. "What?"

Plagg mimicked his kitten's reaction and stared at his friend in confusion. "Nooroo, what are you talking about?"

Nooroo _finally_ moved from his hiding spot, looking a bit surprised when he saw Melodie standing there, before he focused on Plagg. "Y-you mean y-you d-didn't k-know?"

"Know _what?_ Come on, Nooroo, be a bit more specific."

"Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth."

Adrien suddenly felt a bit lightheaded. He didn't know what was happening, one moment he could see clearly, the next, black spots were clouding his vision. He could faintly hear Plagg and Melodie calling his name, and he thought he tripped? Whatever happened, he didn't hit the ground, someone caught him. That was the only thing he could remember before he blacked out.

When he woke up again, the sun was rising and Melodie was pacing in his room. He let her, still thinking of what Nooroo had said. This couldn't be true, it just couldn't! The odds of...of his _father_ being Hawk Moth were just ridiculous! He's too busy to be a villain anyway, if he doesn't have time to talk to his son than he _definitely_ doesn't have time to stalk people until they're depressed so that he can Akumatize them. It was just... _unreal!_

"Adrien! You're awake!" Plagg called, nearly attacking the boy's face.

"Aww, you do care!" He replied, shooting the Kwami's earlier words back at him, although not as cheerfully. His green eyes were clouded over and unfocused, it wasn't until Melodie smacked him on the head with her flute that he snapped out of it.

"Ow!" He hissed, rubbing the place in pain as he glared at her.

"Next time you're going to faint on me, warn me beforehand," was all she said. "You're heavy."

"And here I thought that I was watching my figure perfectly," he joked, again missing the usual cheerfulness he had.

"I-I'm sorry!" Nooroo muttered, appearing from behind the blonde girl. "I d-didn't mean t-too-"

Adrien sighed. "It's okay, I was just...a little shocked, that's all."

"Yeah, because everyone faints when they're a _little_ shocked," Plagg scoffed, obviously not too happy with the fact that the boy had made him worry.

"Shut up, Plagg," he locked eyes with Nooroo. "Just tell us what you know, okay?"

Nooroo sighed and started telling them _everything._ How he and Riin had been assigned to Adrien's parents, his mother getting the peacock Miraculous while his father got the butterfly Miraculous. He told them how they were the protectors of Paris for years, even when they got married and had Adrien. But it all went down hill when both his mother and Riin went missing; Gabriel had read about the godlike powers the Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculous' could bring, and ever since then, he had been trying to get them to find his wife.

He also told them about what had happened a few days ago, how Ladybug had crashed in and defeated Hawk Moth; but made the mistake of breaking his Miraculous. She should've waited until Nooroo took all the bad energy that was stored inside the brooch, but she acted too quickly, and because of that, the energy started searching for another host. Ladybug just happened to be the person closest. Tikki couldn't do anything either because she would be hurting Nooroo, since the energy was still linked to him. The brooch had fixed itself as if Ladybug had used her Miraculous Cure, and she had taken it with her, leaving Nooroo behind; which led to the situation they were in now.

When he was done talking, all eyes snapped to Adrien and Melodie took a hesitant step forwards; in case he decided to faint again. Instead, he looked up; determination in his green eyes as his jaw clenched and he pushed himself off the bed. "Let's go."

"Wait, what?" Melodie blinked.

"Let's go find Claude and Allan," he clarified. "And save Mari."

"Adrien, I don't think-"

"Nathalie is going to be checking up on me soon, Melodie, so we need to hurry." He stated calmly, arms crossed. "And I promised Marinette, I'm not about to let her down because of a little story."

"But that's just it. It isn't a little story," she reminded, voice wary as she stared at him.

He sighed. "I know."

"Adrien, are you sure about this?" Plagg asked.

"Why are all of you so hesitant? It's impolite to keep Princesses waiting, you know." He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

After he transformed, Chat jumped out of the window without warning, with Melodie and Nooroo following him.

He was done stalling, he was going to turn her back; as soon as possible.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Okay so someone asked if I was shipping Adrien and Allegra and I AM NOT! XD**_

 _ **I'm sorry if I made this seem a little shippy, but that's just how they are! Both of them are friendly dorks! And Melodie/Allegra usually gets stuck with Chat/Adrien because Mercury is too impulsive, Allan is still a little wary (even if he doesn't show it), Kid Mime literally doesn't talk, and there aren't many scenes with Claude!**_

 _ **Again, don't worry, Mari is still the #bae, I even listed this fanfic as [Marinette/Ladybug x Adrien/Chat Noir] so everything's okay! (not to mention Allegra's obvious crush on Claude)**_

* * *

Chat hated the rain.

It wasn't really the case that _he_ hated it, it was more of a...instinctual thing. He always carried an umbrella with him on rainy days as Adrien, and he didn't really mind that much if the rain hit him (although he preferred to avoid it) but as Chat, the hate was more intense. The cat-themed hero always made sure to walk in places where the rain wouldn't hit him; the rooftops were his enemy on those days.

Ladybug always laughed and teased him about it, especially when he would hiss in irritation whenever a drop managed to hit him.

But now it was different.

Yes, his instincts were screaming at him to take cover as he sat on a rooftop and the rain poured down on him relentlessly, and _yes_ he was aware that he could just ask Kid Mime to create some sort of cover against the rain. But he didn't want to.

Right now, as Melodie, Mercury and Kid Mime were sitting beside him and were scanning the city for any sign of Miss Fortune; the rain was the least of his worries.

They were going to end this, and save Marinette.

Chat's eyes narrowed as he spotted a green blur in the dark, matching Mercury's speed. "Over there!" He informed the others, before jumping off and following the blur.

When Melodie had brought him back to the hideout (which she surprisingly opened by playing a tune; he was starting to think that the door opened differently for every person) he had introduced Allan and Claude to a _very_ nervous Nooroo. Plagg nearly had to tie him up to stop him from hiding; explaining that his friend was even more of a nervous wreck when there were more people around.

But when he had calmed down a bit, he had told the boys what he had told Melodie and Adrien, and Claude had already thought of a plan by the end of the story. His quick thinking and brave personality often reminded the blond boy of Ladybug. He had a feeling that, after all of this was said and done; the two would most likely end up to be great friends.

The plan was a bit complicated and Adrien had to admit that he was only half-listening. But something told him that it would fail.

To be fair, Claude had really thought of every possibility and made sure that he had a backup plan in case something would backfire, but she was unpredictable. When it came to fighting Miss Fortune, you just _couldn't_ plan everything ahead of time.

They followed the blur until it stopped in an alley.

"Alix?" Chat breathed, slowly drawing his weapon.

The girl in question send him a two-finger wave. "Whaddup, kitty-cat? How's it going?" She smirked and took a running stance. "You should know by now that it's Timebreaker," she took off, heading straight for the rooftops.

"I'm going after her," Mercury informed, before Chat blocked him with his staff.

"Whatever you do," he told him. _"Don't let her touch you."_

Mercury nodded and took off, surprisingly struggling to keep up with her as the others followed him on their own pace; Melodie being carried by Kid Mime.

As they were running, Chat nearly bristled as his cat instincts started acting up. "We're being followed," he called, jumping over a rooftop.

Melodie looked behind them, frowning as she saw a girl dressed in a fox-themed costume following them, holding a flute in her right hand. From what Claude had told them, she looked oddly like...

"Chat, do you know the Fox Miraculous holder?"

The blond's eyes widened and he cursed loudly, stopping so they could catch up with him while he kept an eye on the advancing puppet. "That's not the real Volpina," he explained slowly, making sure Lila didn't get too close. "She's a girl in my class who pretended to be her and got Akumatized after Ladybug called out her lies. You should watch out with her, she's dangerous."

"I'm assuming she has the powers of the real Volpina?" Kid Mime muttered.

"If you mean illusions, then yes."

Melodies eyes narrowed and she jumped out of her leader's arms, pulling out her flute as she did so.

Kid Mime frowned. "Melodie, what are you-"

"Think you can create an airplane with two seats?" She cut him off, eyes focused on Volpina; who dive-bombed towards the ground before shooting up and flying after them, gaining speed in the process.

The brunet shrugged in response.

"Well, you better hurry up, we don't have much time." The whole time she talked, she didn't even stutter once; even if she was standing so close to her crush. At that moment, her head was only focused on the mission at hand.

"What are you planning?" Chat asked.

"She creates her illusions with her flute, right?" She started as Kid Mime worked on the task she gave him.

He nodded, green eyes confused.

"Well, Mime once told me that the Fox Miraculous holder could only create her illusions successfully if she finishes her tune; just like he can only create something if he doesn't get interrupted while miming. If I just keep playing, it should be difficult for her, ri-" she yelped as Kid Mime suddenly lifted her up and put her in an invisible seat before climbing in himself; motioning for Chat to lead the way.

The cat grinned at her blushing face, but quickly started running after Volpina started playing her flute.

As Volpina tried to use her powers, Melodie kept frantically playing tunes that went surprisingly well with the songs the Akuma was playing; as if they were playing in harmony. The blonde still made sure she didn't play the same song as the fox Akuma, in case she accidentally finished her illusion for her. She had to admit, it was a bit hard to focus on playing while her leader was driving the 'plane' he created _quite_ recklessly. But then again, she couldn't really blame him, they _were_ trying to escape a dangerous Akuma after all.

It was when Melodie started seeing houses randomly burning and meteors falling that she realized she had messed up somewhere with her songs. The girl gritted her teeth and warned the boys not to pay attention to what was happening around them. Her blue eyes narrowed and she could practically _feel_ smoke coming out of her ears when the villain winked and blew a kiss; clearly daring her to do something.

Well, joke's on her because even if it was true that she was raised to be an obedient little girl; Allegra Vernier does _not_ back down.

"Boys," she called over the sound of 'buildings' being destroyed by 'meteors'. "Whatever happens, keep going!"

She didn't even give them time to respond as she put her flute to her lips and started playing, deciding not to close her eyes and instead locking them straight on the girl chasing them. "Let's see how you like it," she murmured softly, starting to play the same tunes as Volpina had done.

She started playing the tunes faster and faster, until a bright light started to surround her. The faster she played, the brighter the light; until the light died down completely and music notes started appearing. But, unlike the notes that appeared when she was transforming, these ones were a lot bigger in size and acted like projectiles; immediately heading for Lila the moment Melodie played them, only growing larger the longer she played.

The Akuma actually kept up quite well, until she got hit by a G-clef and was knocked off the roof _just_ as they managed to catch up with Mercury.

"How did you-" Chat started, staring at her with wide eyes as Kid Mime destroyed the plane he had created.

Melodie smirked and twirled her flute around. "I got many talents."

"Guys," Mercury rushed towards them, looking a bit distressed. "I caught up with Timetraveller-"

"Timebreaker," Chat corrected.

"Yeah, her," he dismissed. "But when I reached her she just disappeared!"

The blond boy sighed. "Yeah, that's normal, she probably went back in time or to the future."

"That is _not_ normal, dude!" He exclaimed, staring at Chat as if he was crazy.

"Mercury, you literally have sparks of electricity coming from you and you _aren't_ dead," Melodie deadpanned. "I don't think any of us get to say that something is normal or not."

"Ah, blondie's wise words of the day," a familiar voice sang, and Chat tensed.

"My Lady," he greeted lowly, eyes locked on the ground as the others took defensive stances.

Miss Fortune sighed and tilted her head, looking down at them from her crouched position on the nearby rooftop. "I told you, Chaton, Ladybug is _dead;_ even with your little Princess and her Kwami stuck in here." She lightly knocked on the side of her head to emphasize her point, her grin widening. "But I've got good news for you, kitty!"

Without warning, she pounced, tackling her former partner to the ground and not worrying (or caring) about the three others ready to attack her. Before they could, however, Kim, Ivan and Juleka attacked them, in their 'normal' forms.

Chat landed on his back, barely feeling the pain as his hands instinctively wrapped around her waist to steady her as she grinned down at him. Her purple eyes were shining brightly as she placed her hands on each side of his head, smile never leaving her face. "I'm a free woman now," she whispered lowly, as if the others were able to hear her from across the street.

"What are you talking about?" Chat frowned, although he had a slight feeling he knew.

"I'm talking about the fact that Papillon hasn't said anything in a while, and Marionette is telling me he's completely gone," she leaned her head closer to him, her eyes lidded as her voice lost its condescending and teasing tone. "Do you have something to do with that, minou?"

"I thought you beat him," he said, changing the subject. "The thing I want to know is how he was able to give you orders when you took his Miraculous."

She smiled and pulled back, that now-familiar destructive smirk reappearing. "I forgot to take Nooroo with me, and apparently the little thing was _so_ scared of his holder that he agreed to send me his messages. He can't be that scary, can he? Although..." she trailed off, and Chat resisted the urge to shiver when he saw that look in her eyes.

He didn't trust it, at all.

Miss Fortune leaned closer again, this time placing her red-tinted lips at his ear. "I have a feeling you know who he really is, don't you, _Adrien?"_

His reaction was instant, catching her by surprise as he jumped up and kicked her off him, green eyes wide and nearly breathless. "How'd you know?" Was the only thing he said, still breathing heavily.

The purple-eyed girl calmly got up and brushed off her clothes, winking at him while doing so. "I found out after we fought at the school. You should really check your surroundings better before you transform, minou." She grinned. "Oh, and if you'd like to know; Marinette is freaking out right now, especially since you saw the pictures in her room...even if they're outdated."

He flinched.

"So..." she started slowly, clapping her hands together and almost smiling in delight. "How does it feel to know that your dad has been causing terror all over Paris for years now?" Her eyes glazed over and she scowled, muttering 'shut up, Mari,' underneath her breath before focusing back on the stunned boy, a new idea popping in her head. "It's kind of ironic actually, Marinette has been crushing on the boy in her class for _years,_ and when she finally got over him and moved on to her partner; it turns out they're the same person!"

She walked closer to him. "Well, at least now you can't say she doesn't love you for who you really are."

He stayed silent.

Miss Fortune frowned. "Come on, kitty! I chose the perfect scenery for this talk!" She motioned towards their surroundings, the Eiffel Tower standing proudly a few feet behind them.

"Shut up," he growled as he stared at the ground, his hair covering his eyes and making it impossible for her to see his expression.

"Aww, is the little kitty getting angry?" She taunted. "What are you gonna do? Show me your claws?"

"No."

She chuckled. "That's what I thought. Now, you haven't answered my question yet, how does it feel to know who Papillon really is? It's rude to keep a _Lady_ waiting, you know."

"Shut up," he repeated, clenching his fists.

"I know you won't hurt me, Chaton, so just answer the question. I assume you know about your mother too?"

 _"Shut up!"_

Before she could react, Chat had somehow pulled her back flush to his; holding her hands behind her back. "You're right, I won't hurt you," he breathed into her ear as she struggled to get out of her grip. "But I'm not alone," Mercury zipped past and took her from him, dragging her up a building and dropping her on a rooftop just as she managed to slip out of Chat's grasp.

"Hi, I'm Mercury!" He greeted cheerfully, holding out his hand while keeping her pinned to the rooftop. "I really wish we'd have met under different circumstances but-"

"You talk too much," she hissed, kicking him off and running up the Eiffel Tower.

Chat was about to follow, but a wall made of music notes stopped him as Melodie dropped down behind him. "Don't go after her," she told him, looking a bit worried, even if she kept her voice leveled. "We need to take care of other things first."

"Like?"

The girl rolled her eyes and smacked him on the head with her flute. "Open your damn eyes!"

Chat groaned in pain but did as asked anyway, looking surprised when he saw Kid Mime and Allan both struggling against his classmates; some Akumatized and some normal. Marionette really was powerful.

"We should help-" she started, but was cut off by a familiar, calming tune.

All four heroes looked up to see Volpina standing on a nearby rooftop, and as she finished playing her tune, all of the 'puppets' disappeared.

"They were illusions," Chat murmured, still in a daze from what happened.

"Yup!" Miss Fortune called loudly from her place on the Eiffel Tower. "I kept the real deal hidden away, Marionette didn't really like that, but who cares? _I'm_ the one in charge now! She'll just have to wait until sunrise if she wants to see her puppets in action."

The two watched as Volpina separated Kid Mime and Mercury and quickly went to help them; Melodie going after Kid and Chat going after Mercury. The Akuma had created several illusions to attack them, keeping them busy while she watched from the sidelines.

In the middle of the fight, Mercury stopped completely, staring at something in front of him. Despite his eyes being completely white, the terror on his face was clear.

"Mercury?" Chat asked carefully, stepping forward and absentmindedly noticing that the illusions they were fighting had disappeared completely.

"No..." he whispered, sounding completely broking as he started trembling in place; eyes wide and fearful.

Chat grabbed a hold of his shoulders, realizing what was going on when he saw Volpina playing on her flute and looking down at the speedster. "Mercury! Snap out of it! Whatever she's showing you, it's fake!"

He shook his head, rambling random things to himself, seemingly not hearing Chat. The cat-themed hero didn't know why, but he suddenly felt everything heating up for some strange reason. And...was it just him, or was Mercury changing color?

"Chat, watch out!" Melodie screamed loudly, running as fast as she could (which wasn't very fast) and tackling him far away from her teammate. She did it just in time, because all the blue faded from Mercury as he screamed and caught on fire. All the blue being replaced with flaming orange and the white sparks of electricity being replaced by red flames.

He took a running stance, and headed straight for a shocked Volpina, leaving behind flames as he ran.

"Mercury changes into...well, _this,_ if you get him angry enough." Melodie explained quickly, her eyes wide as she breathed heavily, voice cracking on occasion. "He doesn't have any control over himself in those moments; all I can say is that he's dangerous."

"So, he's literally hot-headed?" The green eyed boy confirmed.

Mercury attacked the stunned villain, confused when she just dissolved into smoke when he reached her and the real girl was hovering in the air; looking more scared than she's ever been. She took her lies too far this time. Hell, even Miss Fortune seemed surprised, although she didn't really seem to mind this change of events.

"I guess you can say that," Melodie nodded.

Kid Mime landed in front of the two, looking just as worried as his blonde teammate. "Melodie, you need to knock him out."

"What?" She exclaimed, clutching her flute protectively. "Mime, I can't just-"

"You _have_ to," he stressed, looking at her with wide blue eyes. "He won't calm down any other way, he saw all of us _die,_ nothing will make him stop after that!"

"Wait," Chat cut in, waving his hands. "You saw what Lila showed him?"

"Of course," the brunet responded. "My powers are miming, I literally am creating things by visualizing them; seeing through illusions is easy once you get the hang of that."

As Mercury rushed around, leaving flames wherever he went; Melodie bit her lip and doubtfully looked down at her flute before looking back up at Kid Mime. "Cover for me," was all she said.

He smiled. "Don't I always?"

Chat walked past them. "You guys get him," he started, looking up at the Eiffel Tower with narrowed eyes. "I'll go after her."

Both heroes looked at each other for a second, before nodding at him and running off towards their friend; Melodie with her flute in hand and Kid Mime making sure she didn't get hit by the flames.

Chat Noir sighed. "I guess it's just you and me now, My Lady," he stated, before propelling himself forwards with his staff and climbing the Eiffel Tower on all fours like a cat.

He would get her back.


	7. Chapter 7

"That was a pleasant surprise, wasn't it?" She muttered when he reached the top, not even bothering to look at him. She was sitting on one of the metal bars, swinging her legs back and forth as she stared at the scene. "I've honestly never seen Lila this scared before, not even when Marionette took control of her."

"Fortune, you need to stop this."

She sighed and pushed herself up, a sad smile on her face. "It was fun while it lasted," she stated softly, purple eyes dulling a bit. "But I guess my time's up."

Chat frowned, he knew that the sun wouldn't be rising for another few hours or so, so she couldn't possibly be talking about Marionette coming back. But if that wasn't the case, then what was she...

His eyes widened in surprise. "Are you giving up?"

She scoffed, her eyes brightening again. "Now, don't get too cocky, kitty. I'm not going down without a fight!"

She swung her yo-yo, aiming to throw him off the tower, but he dodged the attack. Of course he did. "I would be _furry_ surprised if you didn't," he grinned.

Miss Fortune rolled her eyes and pulled her weapon back. "Even now you make stupid puns," she said, heading straight for him.

He blocked her attack when it came and swung his staff to counter, but she simply flipped out of the way; keeping her balance even on the thin surface of the metal bars. Not to mention it was still wet from the rain.

She didn't break a sweat the whole time they fought, that confident smirk on her face never leaving, as if she was merely _playing_ with him.

Until her foot slipped on the still-wet surface and she lost her balance.

Chat reacted quickly, reaching out to grab her hand and swiftly pull her back up; not even letting go as she regained her balance. He just stared at her with wide green eyes, as if he was debating something; before he tugged her towards him and pressed his lips to hers.

Miss Fortune stayed frozen in place, not knowing how to react at all. Hell, even _Marionette_ was freaking out, She didn't react as he pulled her closer, or when his hands slid up towards her face to hold her in place.

She only realized what he just did when he pulled away.

"I'm sorry, Princess," he breathed softly, not bothering to hide the strain in his voice. "But I had to."

Her hands shot to her ears, purple eyes widening when she realized her earrings were gone. "You-"

 _"Cataclysm!"_

Before she could react, he had slammed his palm down onto her black and red earrings. Surprisingly, the jewelry didn't break, instead it just lightened up to it's usual red and black color scheme, before a wave of black energy emerged from them and slammed right into Chat. He stumbled back, nearly dropping her Miraculous, but he managed to keep his balance and smile weakly at her.

Marinette's eyes started clearing up already, enough for her to realize what was going on. "Chat! Are you-"

He didn't let her finish, he just wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and jumped off the Eiffel Tower as her transformation started to wear off. The boy could feel the Akumas whispering in his ear, trying their best to make him depressed enough to take control, but Plagg had warned him about this and he _wasn't_ about to give in.

He landed on the ground next to Kid Mime, Melodie and a knocked-out Mercury, watching in amazement as all the 'Akumas' changed back and everyone's eyes started clearing up as Marionette's control over them broke. He could see Juleka and Rose almost instantly running towards each other, Sabrina looking around with a scared expression until she found Chloé complaining about her hair somewhere across the street. Myléne was cuddled up close to Ivan, while Nathanaël just looked really confused and exhausted.

And Marinette...

Marinette had pulled away from Chat, sitting on the ground and staring at nothing with a broken expression on her face. Her usually vibrant blue eyes looking dull and pained. A second ago, she was too focused on worrying about him, but now that he seemed to be okay, everything she had said and done in the past few days started to catch up with her.

The girl wrapped her arms around her legs, her entire body trembling as she recalled _everything_ that had happened; what she had _done,_ both as Marionette and Miss Fortune.

Melodie had ushered both boys away the moment she sensed the tension between the two partners, opting that all three of them go check on all the puppets the girl had created. Just to see if they were _truly_ okay. And since the boys tended to 'accidentally' listen in on conversations that had nothing to do with them; she made sure they stayed out of earshot.

Chat hesitantly held out her earrings, and she stared at them with an empty expression before taking them and putting them on; cupping her hands when Tikki appeared, looking beat up and exhausted as she dropped into the girl's hands.

"Tikki, I am so sorry," she sobbed, hugging the Kwami close as Adrien released his transformation.

Tikki smiled softly. "Don't worry, Marinette, it's oka-" Her sentence got cut off and she yelped as a certain black cat Kwami nearly tackled her, making sure to watch her injuries.

"Tikki!" He greeted happily, surprising both Adrien and the ladybug Kwami at his sudden change of behavior.

Nonetheless, she greeted him back with just as much enthusiasm.

"Princess?" Adrien whispered softly, crouching down beside her and staring at her with worried green eyes. He reached one of his hands out to her, but she flinched away from him, hugging herself even tighter and burying her face in her knees as she tried her best to keep her sobs quiet.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "So, so sorry."

He sighed. "Princess, it wasn't your faul-"

"Don't," she whimpered, still hiding her face from him. "Don't lie to make me feel better. It _was_ my fault. _I_ didn't wait for you, _I_ acted on an impulse, _I_ forgot to purify the Miraculous and broke it." She started, her voice cracking even more the longer she talked. "I wasn't thinking, and all of that let to me attacking everyone, burning down the school. I even mentioned your parents!"

Adrien stared at her shaking and crying form, not liking this at all. It honestly hurt him to see her like that, she was always confident and brave; no matter what form she was in. So seeing her like this hurt, a lot. And, even if she was hiding her face from him; the sound of her crying was still clear as day, which just made everything ten times worse. So, he reached out towards her and pulled her closer to him, ignoring her protests.

She struggled against him for a few minutes, repeatedly calling for him to let her go; that she didn't _deserve_ to be held and comforted after everything she had done. He stayed silent during all that, simply waiting for her to calm down and relax. And when she finally gave up and allowed him to hold her, he tightened his grip around her waist and hugged her tightly; pretending not to notice the way she clutched at his shirt as if something could go wrong at any time now.

"You know," he started. "You can keep telling yourself that all of this was your fault, but I'm never going to believe you."

"Adrien-"

"Trust me, if it wasn't for you; I'd probably be lying dead somewhere in an alley because Miss Fortune or Marionette killed me," she flinched. " _You_ were the one who was holding them back, weren't you? You did whatever you could to help, and that was more than enough to save you from the Akuma, okay?"

"Can we...can we stop talking about this?" She asked, still hiding her face in his shoulder. "I want to go home."

"Of course," he smiled softly. "Want me to bring you? I don't think Tikki has the energy to transform you."

She nodded slowly and he sighed, calling Plagg (who was asking Tikki multiple questions) to transform him. Chat picked the shaking girl up bridal style and she wrapped her arms around her neck; hiding her face in shame from what she had done...and to make sure he didn't see her blush. Even if he was...well aware of her crush on both sides of him (thank you, Miss Fortune) it didn't to anything to make it less embarrassing; in fact, it made it worse.

The girl found herself struggling against her sleep, fighting against two different personalities inhabiting her body for the past few days turned out to be really exhausting. Her eyelids started closing on their own account, but she forced them to stay open; she wasn't about to fall asleep, she didn't allow herself to. Besides, if she went to sleep right now, she could say with almost one hundred percent certainty that she would be having nightmares about what had happened.

Marinette could faintly hear people talking in the background, a girl who's voice she definitely didn't recognize asked if she was okay. Another voice she didn't recognize (this time it was a boy) was talking way too fast for her to catch anything he was saying in her drowsy state, and she was _sure_ that she could faintly sense another presence, but he or she didn't say anything at all.

She could also faintly hear Chat saying something of bringing her home, and she pushed her face closer to his chest as she thought of her parents. They must've been so worried, which made her feel even more guilty. Her mother tended to get overly-worried if Marinette just got sick; let alone if she ended up being Akumatized and caused havoc wherever she went, just to get her partner's Miraculous.

The green eyed boy suddenly tightened his grip on her and picked up speed, and she figured that he was running and jumping across the rooftops. She could be wrong though, she wasn't really thinking very clearly at that moment.

"Kitty?" She yawned, lazily lifting her head to look at him. He was looking straight ahead of him, focused on where he was going, but when she called his name he looked down. She pretended not to notice the way he looked away immediately, seemingly pained; probably from seeing her bloodshot eyes. He didn't respond, but that simple action let her know that he was listening.

"I'm...I'm proud of you," she told him, staring straight at his eyes in all seriousness. Maybe it was the shock from everything that had happened, or the fact that she was half-asleep, but she didn't stutter; not even once.

Chat glanced down at her before looking back up. "Normally you would've struggled to say a simple 'hi'," he joked, a small smile on his face.

"I mean it."

"I know you do."

He landed in front of the bakery, figuring that bringing her home through the front door would be a better option than her just showing up out of nowhere if he went through the balcony. Marinette drowsily muttered something he didn't quite understand and he smiled softly. He would never tell her when she had gotten enough sleep and energy to throw him off a roof, but she was adorable like this.

The young hero pushed the door open, the small bell hanging on the door immediately alerting the Dupain-Chengs of his arrival.

When Sabine spotted her nearly-unconscious daughter laying in his arms, her hands covered her mouth as she sobbed and rushed towards the pair; completely forgetting to acknowledge the cat-themed hero as she gently brushed Marinette's hair out of her face. _"Mon Dieu,"_ she breathed, tears running down her cheeks. "What happened to her?"

Chat looked up and told them the same lie he had told his father; altering it just slightly by telling them that Ladybug had taken the _Akumatized_ Marinette, since he was pretty sure that most of their classmates would show up tomorrow to check on her; they couldn't really attend a school that was burned down, now could they?

As he told them the lie, he could feel Marinette shift a little in his arms, glancing up at him with a weakly raised eyebrow. He could've come up with a better lie than that, couldn't he?

"We were so worried," Tom admitted, staring at his daughter with relief in his eyes and Chat was reminded of just how... _loving_ Marinette's family was. Even a blind man could see how much the couple adored their only daughter, just from the way they looked at her. He figured that his mother probably gave him the same look, but he would never know since he was way too young to remember; and he doubted she would ever come back.

But then again, Nooroo _did_ say both her and Riin disappeared, so maybe that could be a clue to finding her.

Marinette lazily opened her eyes and tried her best to smile at her parents. _"Maman, papa,_ I'm sorry I made you worry," she was clearly struggling with speaking, her sentences were just syllables mashed into one word, too tired to perfectly form the sentences.

Sabine placed her hand on her daughter's cheek and smiled. "It's okay, we got you back now."

"Maybe you should sleep, we can talk tomorrow," Tom said, gently placing a large hand on his wife's shoulder. "Do you want me to bring her or..."

"No, don't worry about it. I can do it." He offered, shooting them a friendly smile before remembering he had to keep up appearances. "Upstairs, right?"

He nodded, smiling gently when Marinette mumbled something about leading the way. In her current state; she'd probably be fine if he just dropped her in the bathtub.

Chat jogged up the stairs, careful not to startle her too much. When he entered her room, he immediately placed her in her bed and tucked her in. The moment she hit the mattress, her eyelids closed automatically, but she was obviously fighting her sleep as she tiredly muttered something along the lines off. "You're friends seem nice."

He chuckled. "You can meet them once you've slept, Princess. I'm warning you though, they practically admire Ladybug."

"After what they've seen, I doubt it," she scoffed and he rolled his eyes.

"Hey, don't be like that. It wasn't your fault and you know it."

She nodded tiredly, shifting to lie on her side, and he took that as his cue to go. He turned and was about to head downstairs again, but she grabbed his hand; not even having a grip on him. "Chaton," she muttered, looking up at him with sleepy blue eyes. "I'm-"

He cut her off. "You're sorry, I know." He stared at her, before leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Sleep tight, Princess."

He left the room.

* * *

 _ **I am not content with this chapter :(**_


	8. Chapter 8

_"Miraculous Ladybug!"_

Ladybug was crouching on the top of the Eiffel Tower, yo-yo in hand and watching with a sad smile as all the destruction she had caused that past week was starting to repair itself just from the sheer amount of power that Tikki brought. She had wanted to go and fix everything the moment Chat had managed to get her back to normal, but neither she or her Kwami were able to move at all, let alone use something as power-draining as calling Lucky Charm to fix everything.

So, the moment she had woken up and made sure that Tikki was completely okay, she had jumped out of her bedroom window and headed towards the highest point of Paris. The sun was just starting to rise, so she was sure that everyone was still asleep, and when they woke up; they would see their city back in the state they remembered it. It was her way of apologizing for what she had done.

But for her, it still wasn't enough.

Despite the encouraging words Tikki and Chat had thrown at her, she still couldn't forgive herself. No matter how many times they told her it wasn't her fault and that she couldn't have done anything, she couldn't deny that they were _wrong._

It _was_ her fault, and she _could_ have done something. She shouldn't have been careless enough to fight Hawk Moth on her own in the first place! Her and Chat were a team for a reason, she didn't know why she even thought that she could take the villain on her own while she knew pretty damn well that she needed her partner for the Akumas. If she couldn't handle the puppets on her own, who said she could defeat the master himself? Surely she had to be insane.

Maybe it was her pride, or maybe she was just delusional. Whatever it was, it had ended with her being (sort of) Akumatized and nearly destroying all of Paris. She was trapped in her own body, she could hear what Miss Fortune and Marionette were individually planning.

Marionette just wanted to follow Hawk Moth's orders and take Chat's Miraculous, like a good little puppet.

While Miss Fortune...she was just out for blood. Ladybug was pretty sure that she would've gotten her bloodshed too if she hadn't stepped in whenever she could. She could almost say with a hundred percent certainty that Chat would be her first victim.

It still freaked her out, even if she wasn't in control, she couldn't deny that Marionette and Miss Fortune both were a part of her. Deep down inside of her, she could still feel those two hiding somewhere; one wrong move, and they could make their reappearance just as easily as they disappeared.

It felt weird, having three people trapped in one body. Even if it were more than two, Marinette still felt like it was a really strange version of a split personality. Miss Fortune had been the Akumatized version of Ladybug, while Marionette had taken the liberty of being the Akumatized version of herself.

As much as she hated to admit it, Marinette had been _terrified._ All the confidence and bravery she had built up in her years as Ladybug had disappeared the _second_ that Miss Fortune had showed her face. Marionette she could handle, she was just being controlled and did what she had to without feeling any remorse or emotion _at all._

But Miss Fortune...she had proved that feeling something was _way_ worse than feeling nothing. She _enjoyed_ everything she was doing, she felt some sick, sadistic and twisted sense of happiness whenever she saw someone's broken and beaten form, especially when _she_ had been the one to cause it. She got even happier if their state of mind had been effected by it too.

That's why she had been targeting Chat the whole time. She didn't care about Hawk Moth's wishes at all, she just used that as an excuse to go after him. All she wanted was to break him, because to her, it would be a lot more fun than some random person from the class. Chat trusted Ladybug with his life and more, admired her more than anything else, and Miss Fortune wanted to crush that trust until there was nothing left and the hero was nothing but a shell of what he had been.

When Marinette had first realized that, she had nearly been paralyzed with fear, not understanding how someone with such dark and cruel intentions could exist, let alone be a part of _her._

It was the whole reason why she pushed most of her energy in fighting Miss Fortune instead of Marionette, she _refused_ to let something like that happen to her kitty.

Tikki had helped a lot by giving Plagg as much info as she could, and Marinette was grateful for that. If it hadn't been for her, it might've taken Chat a lot longer to stop her. Maybe it already would've been too late by then.

But in the end, Ladybug really was proud of her partner.

As terrible as it sounded, before all of this happened she was glad that he usually was the one that got caught in the Akuma's attacks and was forced to fight against her. She knew he would never do anything to hurt her, under control or not; Ladybug doubted he would be able to get the job done if _she_ had been the one under influence of an Akuma.

She didn't like fighting against him either, but she always forced herself to do it, her mind set on saving both him and Paris. She always told herself that the faster she got this done, the quicker she could save him.

He had shown many times that he would give up his own life to save hers, and she didn't really think that would be a smart thing to do while he was fighting her in battle.

But now that this had happened, she knew that he could do it. She believed in him a lot more then she did before, and that was saying something.

Sure, he had hesitated in the beginning, which led to him nearly getting killed by her...other two personalities. But he just needed a little push, and after she had given him that, she dared to say that he fixed everything with a lot more confidence than she herself had in her own skills.

She really hoped that people would start seeing him as her partner instead of her sidekick after this. Because it wasn't Ladybug that had saved the city this time. It had been Chat Noir and his newfound friends.

But, if you ignored the whole thing with Hawk Moth, there still was one more thing that was bothering her.

Chat, or, well, Adrien.

She had been surprised when Miss Fortune first toyed with the idea, not being able to believe that her flirtatious kitty and the sweet boy from her class could be one and the same person. But the more research the villain did, the more likely it seemed to be.

She still denied it though, only believing it when they all saw it with their own eyes.

If Marinette was honest with herself, she didn't really know how she felt.

She had always found it a little strange that Adrien always seemed to know whenever _Marinette_ had come in contact with the hero, always asking oddly specific questions and even being a little teasing about it once or twice, but not so much that she would be able to make the connection. But still...to think that they were the same person was a little too much.

What made it worse was that thanks to Miss Fortune, he now knew about her previous crush on Adrien and her current crush on Chat. If that wasn't embarrassing, than she didn't know what was.

"Glad to see you're back on your feet again, My Lady."

Ladybug nearly jumped off the Eiffel Tower in surprise, speak of the Devil.

She got up from her crouched position and turned to see him standing behind her, smiling and his baton swung over his shoulder carelessly. "I saw the school being fixed while I was running around, so I thought I'd come see you," he explained casually, still with that cheerful smile on his face.

She was surprised, to say the least, he was acting as if nothing was wrong!

The blue eyed hero hummed and pulled up her yo-yo by its string, effortlessly catching it before putting it away. "I need to fix my mistakes someway."

His smile faded and he sighed. "Princess-"

"It's fine, Chat," she cut him off.

He stared at her, an emotion that she couldn't quite name visible in his cat-like green eyes. Before she could say anything though, he had broken the eye contact and was looking at the city.

After a few minutes of silence, Ladybug spoke up. "Chaton, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, instantly knowing what she was referring to. "The effects have already started to wear off, Plagg says that I should be completely fine by the end of the week."

Apparently, the voices Chat had heard when he had first taken the 'Akuma' from her earrings were quite persistent. They had been bothering him the whole night, starting the minute he had left Marinette's apartment. He had been ignoring them the whole time, focusing his attention on other things, like making sure Nooroo wouldn't pass out from worrying too much. He wasn't really sure if the effects were starting to wear off or the voices were just taking a break, but it had been quiet in his head for a while now so he took it as a good sign.

The blond hero set his attention back on Ladybug and smiled cheekily. "So...when are you going to meet the others? Melodie's been _bugging_ me for a while now to introduce her to you. I don't know if I can hold her off much longer though, she's persistent."

Ladybug rolled her eyes at the pun, but chuckled anyway. "Whenever they're up for it is fine by me."

He flinched. "You... _really_ shouldn't have said that."

The moment he said that, a rush of wind flew past them before stopping right in between them. Ladybug was surprised to see a blue figure with sparks of electricity surrounding him. "Hey there!" He greeted, nearly vibrating in place.

Chat rolled his eyes, muttering something to himself that oddly sounded like 'way to make an entrance, Allan.'

Before Ladybug could respond, another, loud voice cut in.

"MERCURY!"

Kid Mime landed beside them, carrying Melodie in his arms. Her cheeks were a light pink color for some reason, and she was most likely well aware of that fact; hence why she focused most of her attention on the speedster at the moment.

She jumped out of her leader's arms and glared at her blue teammate before shooting a kind smile at the startled heroine. "I'm sorry about that, Mercury is a bit...impulsive. I'm Melodie," she introduced, and Ladybug returned the gesture.

"That idiot over there is Mercury," she continued, before pointing to the quiet boy standing behind her. "And that's Kid Mime, don't mind him, he rarely talks when he's transformed."

"It's nice to meet you," Ladybug said, smiling. "And...I'm sorry about everything that I did."

"It wasn't your fault," she responded before Chat could say anything. "Everything turned out alright, didn't it?"

"And nobody got killed!" Mercury cut in, making the blonde girl glare at him. She put her flute to her lips and played a quick tune, watching as one of her music notes appeared and knocked him off the Eiffel Tower.

As Kid Mime just sighed and shook his head, Chat and Ladybug stared at her with wide eyes.

"What?" She shrugged and waved her hand carelessly. "Don't worry, the idiot has super speed, he'll be fine."

"I take it, you two don't get along too well?" The ladybug-themed hero questioned, staring down to see if she should actually step in to help him or not.

As Melodie shrugged, Chat grinned. "Think Alix and Kim...but minus all the flirting."

Ladybug nodded. "That explains a lot."

* * *

To say that Marinette was nervous to go back to school would be an understatement.

Despite everyone telling her to relax, she was worried. Everyone had seen her as Marionette, and she was pretty sure they knew about Miss Fortune using Marionette's 'puppets' while she wasn't there, it didn't take a genius to figure out the obvious. Alya had definitely figured it out already, needless to say, her cover was blown.

 _"Relax,"_ Adrien breathed, his lips _very_ close to her ear and he smirked as he pretended not to notice her face heating up. Alright fine, so maybe he did that on purpose, but it distracted her, didn't it? "Everything's going to be fine," he assured her.

It took her a second to compose herself, but when she did, she set her worried blue eyes on him; not sure if she should glare or not. "Adrien, there is a _very_ big chance that they know my identity, _nothing_ is fine!" She protested and he just smiled.

"Trust me," was all he said, before lightly pushing her into the classroom.

The moment Marinette set foot into the classroom, everything went silent and all eyes were set on her; Alya was the first to move.

 _"Marinette!_ I was _so_ worried!" She scolded, running towards her best friend and nearly crushing her into a hug. "You've got a lot to explain, girl," she whispered into her ear and the girl tensed before returning the hug.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It's-"

"Careful, Alya, she might just kill you or turn you into a puppet."

"Shut it, Chloé," she hissed back, letting go of Marinette.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "What? I'm just stating the truth, I mean, you all _saw_ what she did to all of us."

"It wasn't her fault!" Nathanaël cut in.

"Even so, I would never kill anyone, not even in that form," Marinette added, clenching her fists as she glared at Chloé.

Said girl nodded. "While that may be true, who says Miss Fortune wouldn't?"

When those words left her mouth, Marinette tensed up completely and the whole class went silent once again.

"Come on now," Chloé continued, smirking when she saw the look on the black haired girl's face. "Even if we can't deny the fact that Miss Fortune was Ladybug, we _all_ are thinking the same thing. Or do you want to tell me that Marinette and Ladybug got Akumatized at the same time?" She questioned, her tone daring anyone to disagree. "That seems like a bit too much of a coincidence, doesn't it?"

Alya slowly set her eyes on her best friend, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. "Marinette?"

"I..." she started, not knowing what to say. "I-"

"Chloé."

Marinette turned to see a certain green eyed boy leaning against a wall, not looking too amused. His eyes locked on her for a second and he shot her a playful wink before turning his attention back on the spoiled blonde.

Said blonde's eyes lit up immediately and her tone turned sickly sweet as she spoke. "Yes, Adrikins?"

"Do me a favor and look out the window."

She frowned, clearly confused, but did as asked anyway; followed by the rest of the class, including Marinette.

They were surprised to see a _very_ familiar red-clad figure swinging through Paris, and Marinette turned to see Adrien staring at her with a look that said _told you it'd be fine._

"No way," Chloé breathed, and Marinette was quick to take her chance.

"Seems like you were wrong, Chloé."

The blonde pulled away from the window and glared at her, not saying another word as she sat down into her seat next to Sabrina. It wouldn't take long before she started rambling about how Marinette wasn't cool enough to be Ladybug anyway.

Adrien mimicked his childhood friend's actions of taking place in his seat, but stopped on his way as he passed Marinette. He leaned down close to her ear, whispering lowly so that nobody other than her could hear him. "Allegra suddenly turned into a major Ladybug fan," was all he said, and despite the redness of Marinette's face, she still managed to smile without fainting right then and there.

She had thought that finding out that Adrien was Chat Noir would make it easier for her to interact with the boy since she didn't seem to be all that affected by Chat's flirting; but she still had a long way to go, especially if he kept doing things like this.

She quickly slipped into her seat just as the teacher walked in, and Alya smirked knowingly at her before slipping her a note, Marinette's face reddening even more when she read it.

 _First he winked at you, and now that. Is there something you aren't telling me, girl?_

As Marinette tried her best to deny anything, Adrien just tried his best not to grin like an idiot. It was fun to hear her stutter like that when he _knew_ he was the cause of it.

As Madame Bustier started her lesson, his attention fell onto his bright orange shoes. Specifically, the butterfly symbols on them.

Right, he still needed to do something about his father and Nooroo.

He glanced behind him at Marinette and sighed, he didn't want to worry her so soon after what happened, but he knew that he shouldn't do things like these on his own. What had happened with her was proof of that.

But then again, it didn't hurt to investigate a bit more before he told her, right?


	9. Chapter 9

Marinette sighed and leaned back in her chair, her head tilted backwards and her eyes focused on the ceiling.

A few days had passed since the incident with Marionette and Miss Fortune, and everything had pretty much gone back too normal. Paris now had five heroes instead of just two, seeing as both her and Adrien had managed to convince the others to come out of the shadows and join them. It turned out that they had been protecting the city at night if Ladybug and Chat Noir weren't present for some reason, but they made sure no one saw them and let everyone just assume that it were the two Miraculous holders who did the deed.

Allegra, Allan and Claude didn't sign up to their school though, since all of them were still practically runaways and joining a school would just make it ten times easier for their 'guardians' to track them down and bring them home; something none of them wanted.

Despite her friendly nature, Marinette had at first been a bit shy and hesitant to talk to them. She knew how kind they were, even someone like Chloé wouldn't mind to befriend any of them, but...their first impression of her had been when she was trying to destroy the very city they were living in. That wasn't a very common- or good -way to start a friendship, now was it?

But they had proven to be very accepting of her, not caring in the slightest of what she had done; because again, it hadn't been her fault. Allegra had even gone as far as to dress up as Ladybug and swing around the city to protect her identity.

And even though Ladybug's relationship with Chat hadn't changed all that much, Marinette's relationship with Adrien was an entirely different case.

She had _finally_ broken her stupid habit of stuttering and nearly fainting when he simply smiled at her, which was an improvement. But all of that backfired when his behavior towards her started to change.

And the whole class had noticed.

At first he had been relatively subtle, helping her whenever Chloé was being bratty again, or tossing her random comments that could still be considered as friendly but had her blushing and stuttering either way.

But as time went on, he had decided to drop the subtle act and just started full out flirting with her, coming dangerously close to Chat Noir's behavior towards Ladybug.

The blond boy had just _insisted_ on being near Marinette, which had lead to him, Alya, Nino and Marinette becoming a lot closer as a group, and she had to admit; that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

...Until he had decided to start using Chat's nickname for her as Adrien too.

The first time he had called her 'Princess' in the middle of class, he had damn near given her a heart attack because she hadn't realized for a second that it was _Adrien_ calling her that and not her partner.

The moment that word had left his mouth the whole class had their own...unique reaction towards it. Rose's declaration of how _adorable_ it was had her blushing beet red, Alya's smirk as she agreed with the petite girl didn't really help her case.

It was worth it though, seeing Chloé's furious expression made it a bit better.

And the boy knew damn well what he was doing. Every time he did something to make her blush, the look on his face told her enough.

Sure, she was grateful that he didn't mention anything about her crush on him, but if he kept this up, he was going to drive her insane one of these days. The fact that the kiss between them was a constant reminder in her head just made it all the worse.

Most people could describe it as a distracting method so he could take her earrings and put an end to it all, but both of them were very much aware that that wasn't the case. He could've taken it without kissing her, Miss Fortune hadn't really been paying attention after she nearly fell from the Eiffel Tower.

Maybe he just liked playing with her, or maybe he was waiting for _her_ to make the first move; she didn't know. Whatever it was, it was making her go crazy. She was actually glad that she had removed all of the pictures and posters of him in her room, because ever since Adrien had started his flirtatious behavior, Chat Noir had been prone to visit her from time to time.

Marinette glanced back at her bed and smiled softly when she spotted her Kwami sleeping soundly. It was safe to say that Tikki had been through a lot more pain than she had, since her powers were getting drained continuously whenever Miss Fortune showed her face again. And even then she tried contacting Plagg whenever she had the chance.

She was brave, braver than the blue eyed girl could ever hope to be.

* * *

 _"Mari, are you **sure** you don't want to tag along with us? Nino wouldn't mind." _

Marinette chuckled as she crossed the street. "Alya, it's fine. I'm not about to crash your date."

 _"I-it isn't a date! What are you saying, girl?!"_

"Sure, because dinner and a movie isn't classified as a date."

 _"Friends can do that too!"_

"Of course they can, Alya," she smirked. "Just go and have fun, don't worry about me, I'm on my way to buy the fabrics for my new project anyways."

 _"Ooh, you better show me when you're done!"_

"Obviously."

The girls kept on talking for a little while longer until Nino arrived to pick Alya up. After that, Marinette tucked her phone away and kept walking to her favorite fabrics store. She hummed a tune to herself on the way there, a small smile on her face as she thought about Alya frantically trying to deny that she was, in fact, on a date. The two thought that they were subtle with their relationship, but in reality, the whole school was aware of it, they just pretended to be oblivious.

It was interesting to see how long they could keep the act up.

 _"Marinette!"_

The girl jumped and barely managed to stop herself from letting out a scream from surprise before turning to see a blonde girl with a single braid running up to her. She frowned, something was obviously wrong. Her blonde friend looked disheveled and worried out of her mind, the fact that she was running was also a surprise. While Melodie didn't run most of the time because she was very slow compared to the others; Allegra just wasn't fit enough for it, even with her slender figure.

She all but crashed into Marinette, her long, blonde braid nearly slapping both of them in the face as the blue eyed girl caught her.

"Allegra! What's wrong?!" She asked worriedly as Tikki poked her head out from Marinette's clutch bag.

"Are you okay?" The small red Kwami asked softly.

"Adrien...Nooroo...missing..." she gasped out, and Marinette dragged her into an alley the moment she heard Nooroo's name.

She grabbed hold of the frantic girl's shoulders and gently pushed her off her, making sure she stood straight by keeping her grip on her shoulders. "Okay, now calm down...relax and take a few deep breaths, just like that. There you go," she smiled when the girl stood straight and closed her eyes, following her instructions until she had calmed down enough. "Good, now tell me what's going on."

"Nooroo came crashing in earlier and was rambling on about how Adrien was missing and that he couldn't contact Plagg. We didn't understand much of what he was saying, but Claude went after him a while ago anyway and it's been hours now and I'm worried, okay?! He said he'd contact us every hour or so but he hasn't done that even _once_ and he isn't answering when me and Allan try to call him and just-" She cut herself off, taking deep breaths once again to keep herself from rambling or her voice from cracking. "I just don't know what to do," she admitted softly. "I ran out to find you as soon as Claude didn't answer our calls."

"It's okay, alright? We'll find them, don't worry, it'll be fine." Marinette assured, smiling gently, although she herself was worrying like crazy now. Adrien wouldn't just disappear without a trace like that, and if Claude did too...

Something _had_ to be wrong, the mime was even more level-headed than Ladybug was.

Tikki frowned and flew up. "I can't contact Plagg, but I can sense his power running, so Adrien most likely transformed."

Allegra frowned. "Nooroo said he couldn't sense him at all."

"That's because he isn't linked to him in the same way I am. All of us have a partner, Plagg is mine, and Riin is Nooroo's." She explained. "I can't sense his exact location though because Adrien transformed, but I think Mari can track him down with her communicator."

"I'm guessing Claude is with him," Marinette muttered, although a bit absentmindedly. Her gut was telling her that something big had happened, why else would her partner just leave without a trace?

The bad thing was, she had a feeling that she knew _exactly_ why he ran off; something that had happened when she wasn't in control of her own body.

While the blue eyed girl was aware of everything that was happening around her during that time, her memory had become a bit fuzzy now that she was herself again. She could still faintly recall everything that she had said and done, but some of the things just got messed up in her head or erased completely. She wasn't really concerned or anything because Adrien had made sure she knew everything that had happened and most of the things he had told her lined up perfectly with what she remembered; excluding the small details that were too much of a mess in her head for her to recall.

But from what she had understood, she didn't forget anything major. Or so she thought.

Adrien certainly hadn't told her about this, and if he was hiding it, then it was important.

"I'll call Allan," Allegra informed. "Knowing him, he'll be here in a second or so."

 _"Tikki, Spots on!"_

While Allegra was talking to Allan, Ladybug grabbed her yo-yo and flipped it open, quickly scrolling through the build-in map until she found the green paw icon flickering at a certain spot.

"What is he doing there?" She muttered to herself, a bad feeling settling into her stomach as she read the location three times over. She was so focused on the map that she didn't even notice the black music notes appearing out of nowhere before a certain female hero holding a flute stood next to her.

"What's wrong?" Melodie asked, frowning.

"Nothing," the blue eyed hero responded, shaking her head. "Where's Allan?"

Melodie smiled and held up three fingers, counting down to one by bringing one finger down whenever a second passed. When she was just holding up one finger, a gust of wind blew her hair into her face as a blue figure stopped next to her.

"You're late," she commented dryly, brushing the strands of hair out of her face.

Mercury rolled his eyes. "I got lost, shut up."

Ladybug smiled at them, even if it was a bit forced to hide her concern. "Follow me," she swung her yo-yo and watched as it hooked itself onto one of the rooftops before she tugged on it and practically flew up. She could hear Melodie yelp and curse as Mercury sped off the moment she had jumped on his back; not even giving her time for her to make sure that she didn't fall off.

From the smirk on his face, it was easy to see that he did it in purpose.

As the girl followed the map and lead them to where she assumed Chat and Kid Mime were, she continuously had the feeling that she was forgetting something important. She knew she was just going to drive herself insane if she kept trying to figure out what it was, but she couldn't _stop._ It was important that she remembered, _very_ important.

Ladybug stopped running the moment they had reached the cemetery, Mercury and Melodie right beside her; the latter fighting not to throw up as Mercury put her down. Her head was _spinning._

From the rooftop they were standing on, they could clearly see all angles of the cemetery. It wasn't very crowded, which just upped the sad and depressing mood the place held. Ladybug could see a few people- mostly elderly people -placing flowers on the graves of their relatives and mourning their deaths and her heart ached for them. She couldn't imagine what it was like to lose someone dear to you.

"Do you see them?" Melodie asked and she shook her head.

"I could zip past real quick to see if I can find them?" Mercury offered, electricity flickering around him.

"No!" The blonde protested, staring at him as if he was insane. "With your speed, you'd just mess up all the flowers and blow them away from the graves!"

"Oh," he blinked. "Right, sorry."

Ladybug sighed. "We need to find them though, I guess we'll just have to jump down and walk around. Be careful though."

Just as they were about to jump, an arm wrapped around Ladybug's waist and pulled her back while an invisible wall blocked Mercury and Melodie from going any further.

The hero's first instinct was to throw the person over her shoulder, but as she placed her hands over the ones holding her back, she felt the familiar leather material and claws; not to mention the ring. She relaxed almost immediately, but still made sure to quickly pull away.

She didn't know how she felt about wanting to lean back into his chest the moment she realized it was him.

As Melodie scolded and hugged a _very_ startled Kid Mime, Ladybug turned around to face her partner and frowned when she saw his expression. He looked sad, but determined at the same time. "I'm sorry I left without saying anything," he spoke softly, as if he was trying his best to make sure his voice didn't crack. "I just didn't have any time to contact you-"

"Never mind that, Chaton," Ladybug cut him off, and, without thinking, she placed a hand on his cheek. She was surprised that her cheeks didn't turn as red as her suit when he leaned into her touch. "What's going on?"

He sighed and locked eyes with Kid Mime, before grabbing his partner's hand and gently removing it from his face. "Just follow me."

He lead them to the top of the church that was standing in the middle of the cemetery, and Mercury made sure to slow down his speed a little so he wouldn't end up crashing against the large bell and accidentally catching the attention of everyone in the cemetery. Besides, Melodie was with Kid Mime now, he didn't need to go full speed just to mess with her.

"Over there," Chat pointed and Ladybug, Melodie and Mercury all followed the direction of where he was pointing.

While Melodie and Mercury immediately tensed for some reason, Ladybug was just confused to see the green eyed boy's father walking through the place; a bouquet of blue flowers in his hand.

She glanced at her partner with a confused expression before focusing back on the man. She followed him with her eyes as Gabriel stopped in front of a grave that she was sure was empty. "Isn't that...?"

"My mother's grave," Chat confirmed. "He left a note saying he was leaving for good so I followed him to stop him, but then I found him here and I just...I don't know what to do. It's obvious he's going to try and find her, so I don't know if I should stop him or not."

Ladybug frowned up at him, not bothering to hide her confusion. "Wait, why would he start looking for her _now?_ Why so suddenly?"

Chat sighed and looked away. "Right, you don't remember."

Melodie's head snapped up. "Wait, she _doesn't?!"_ She exclaimed, voicing the thoughts of her teammates.

This didn't help clear up her confusion _at all._ "I don't remember? Chat, what are you talking about?!"

He sighed, shaking his head as his gaze went back to his father placing the flowers on his mother's grave. "Let's go."

* * *

 _"Wait,_ so you're saying that...that your _father_ is the man we've been after for years now?!"

Adrien nodded, his head hung low and his hands in his hair as he sat on the edge of his bed while Marinette paced the room, still in disbelief of what he had just told her.

"Miss Fortune found out around the same time I did," he spoke after a few minutes of silence, his voice sounding a bit broken. "I knew you didn't remember the moment I saved you because knowing you, you'd have mentioned it immediately. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you so soon after everything that had happened, but then..." He stopped talking, his grip on his hair tightening as he refused to look up.

Marinette let out a breath of air and kept pacing around the room, trying her best to process what he was telling her. Tikki and Plagg where flying somewhere around the mansion, deciding to go and find Nooroo to leave the two teens alone.

The blue eyed girl walked by her friend's desk, stopping to pick up the now crumpled piece of paper and reading the neat handwriting again for the sixth time that day.

 **Adrien.**

 **I'll keep this short.**

 **I know that you know about me and I know about you.**

 **I've known for a while now.**

 **I'm truly sorry for what I did and sending Akumas to attack you and Ladybug, even when I knew it was my own son.**

 **I just want you to know that it was all for your mother, she was a Miraculous holder too and she just...disappeared.**

 **Even Nooroo couldn't track down Riin so I figured that getting the two strongest Miraculous would be my best option.**

 **But I see now that it won't work without some sort of damage.**

 **So, I'm leaving you with Nathalie and Gorilla.**

 **I hope you can forgive me, son.**

 **\- Gabriel**

She sighed and put the letter down, running a hand through her hair. "You should have told me."

"I know," his voice cracked.

Marinette's heart broke when she finally decided to look up and saw the state he was in. She mentally cursed herself, she had been thinking about _Hawk Moth_ the entire time and what this would mean for Ladybug and Chat Noir, while _Adrien_ just got left all alone by his father who was _aware_ that he was sending Akumas after his son for all these years.

Ladybug and Chat Noir could wait.

The girl walked towards him and sat down next to him, stopping his hands from nearly tugging his hair out before gently running her fingers through the smooth blond locks. "Are you okay, minou?" She whispered, voice soft and she nearly cringed. That was a stupid question, it was obvious that he wasn't okay at all.

"I should have gone after him," he responded, his voice muffled from covering his face with his hands. "I could have stopped him from leaving."

"You made the right decision, Adrien, and you know it." She told him, watching the boy with pain in her eyes. "You know that we would just have to lock him up for all the crimes he committed against Paris, letting him go to find your mother was the best option."

"But what if something happens?" He protested. "She was the peacock Miraculous holder, I'm sure something happened while she was on a mission. He won't find her without his Miraculous."

"Technically, he's still Nooroo's holder, so he'll know if something went wrong and then we'll go after him," she assured, nudging him so he would look up at her. She could see his eyes glistening with unshed tears and she swore she could hear her own heart shatter. She pulled him closer, pushing his head on her shoulder and hugging him tightly without a word.

Both of his parents were gone now.

"As much as you believe that you're all alone now," she started softly, making sure her voice didn't crack or that she wouldn't end up crying; he didn't need that right now. The boy would just end up worrying about her instead of himself. "You're not. You have me, Alya, Nino, and everyone else. It'll be okay, kitty, just trust me."

He pulled her even closer. "I know, Mari, I know." he mumbled into her shoulder and she smiled before continuing to run her hand through his hair. It wasn't a secret that he loved the feeling of her running her fingers through his hair, Chat's purring whenever she did that confirmed it.

She could feel the tears dripping down on her shoulder and his breathing turned a bit ragged as he tried his best not to sob or make any sound that indicated that he was crying, so she didn't make any comment on it. She just let him, staying in the same position as long as he needed her to comfort him.

It didn't take long before his breathing evened out and his body relaxed and she smiled as he pulled away and muttered a shy 'thank you.'

He would be alright, she knew he would.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Last chapter guys!**_

* * *

"Guys, you won't _believe_ this!" Alya said as she entered the classroom, an excited grin on her face that her best friend wasn't sure she could trust. She was gripping her phone tightly in her hand, which most likely meant that her 'big news' was about either Ladybug, Chat Noir, or both. From the look that Adrien shot his partner, it was safe to say that he had figured it out too.

"Well, let's hear it then," Nino encouraged, smiling.

The golden eyed girl slid into her seat next to Marinette and quickly typed in her password on her phone before scrolling through the Ladyblog when she unlocked it. When she found what she was looking for, her already wide smile widened even more as she turned the screen so her friends could see. "There's a chance that Ladynoir has become a thing!"

While Nino and Marinette just looked at the girl in confusion, Adrien froze completely; knowing what she meant. He was pretty sure that Marinette was going to kill him once she found out, but then again, it wasn't as if she didn't have any right to.

"Ladynoir?" The girl questioned for both her and the future DJ, blinking in surprise when Alya leaned a bit too close for comfort. It didn't help that the look on her best friend's face was a bit...scary, to say the least.

"Under which rock have you been living, girl?! Ladynoir as in, Ladybug and Chat Noir, _together._ Come on, _everyone_ knows this!"

Marinette's eyes widened as her eyes locked on the blond boy seated in front of her, who was suspiciously trying his best not to look at her. "Wh-what?"

"Cool!" Nino cut in, completely oblivious to his friend's bewildered expression. "So they're finally together?"

"I think so!" Alya responded, with just as much enthusiasm as before.

"W-wait!" The startled hero cut in, her face almost as red as Nathanaël's hair. "Wh-what makes you s-say that?"

If Alya had picked up on her best friend's strange behavior, she didn't show it. "Well, for starters, Ladybug's been a lot more lenient towards Chat's flirting and has even started flirting back. They've also been spotted together a lot more times than before-"

"W-well, of course they're going to be together!" Marinette cut in again. "They're a team!"

The journalist raised an eyebrow and scrolled further down the Ladyblog, turning her phone to show her friend the most recent picture taken of the two heroes of Paris. It was a picture that she remembered all too well; as it didn't really help with making her blush fade.

It was a picture of Ladybug and Chat, the latter's arm wrapped around her waist and her actually _leaning_ into him, her head placed on his shoulder as they sat on top of a random roof. At the time she had thought that nobody was watching, and while she at first had protested against her partner's pleas to just sit there with him and watch the city; she had ended up giving in.

And while it was true that there had been a change in their relationship, they weren't dating yet, although they were getting there. Both in civilian form and their hero forms. Seeing as both teens were relatively shy (and awkward, in Marinette's case) and they were still working around the fact that they had been fighting crime alongside each other for years now without knowing it, they had decided to take things slow.

The whole thing with her nearly destroying the city and his father's sudden decision to leave didn't really create a romantic setting either. And while both of them were trying their best to put those things behind them, it still wasn't really the best timing for a relationship.

But, because a certain kitty had gotten them into this mess, he was about to get them out of it.

Marinette's eyes narrowed as they landed on the squirming blond boy, his green eyes going anywhere but her. He was well aware of her stare and of what she was thinking at the moment. She had clearly warned him about what could happen if someone saw them, but he kept on insisting and had stated that he would do something about it _if_ they were seen. It was time for him to make up to his promise.

...Although it was clear that he hadn't really _expected_ for anyone to see them.

"W-we can't just jump to conclusions, you know?" Adrien finally cut in, looking slightly uncomfortable with Marinette's death stare locked on him.

He wasn't really willing to test if cats really had nine lives or not.

Nino frowned. "Dude, what are you saying? Weren't you the one who was _the most_ set on the idea of Ladybug and Chat together?"

 _"Nino!"_ He hissed quietly, the color of his face matching the color Marinette's had been seconds before as his face flushed scarlet while he tried to avoid said girl's eyes. He was pretty sure that her death stare had turned into a look of surprise and amusement, and he was _not_ ready for Ladybug's teasing. As funny as it may seem, it wasn't; the Reflekta incident proved that very well.

Knowing her, she and Plagg would never live this down.

"Oh _really_ now?" Alya smirked, leaning her chin on her palm and keeping her eyes on Adrien, who was getting redder by the second.

Great, now he had Marinette, Plagg _and_ Alya to worry about.

Luckily for him, the teacher walked in just at that moment, effectively cutting the conversation. He glanced behind him for a second and immediately wished he hadn't, the gleam in Marinette's blue eyes as she smiled a bit _too_ sweetly at him had him shivering in his seat.

He was _so_ screwed.

* * *

"So, if I get this straight, you've been wanting for us to get together for...how long now?"

"My Lady, _please_ drop it," Chat groaned, his cheeks heating up as his partner simply smirked at him as they were running along the rooftops.

Ladybug shook her head, grinning widely at the expression on his face. "Oh no, Chaton, I'm just getting started. Just think of this as payback for all the teasing and flirting you threw at me, not to mention the times you made Marinette flustered-" her eyes widened and she cut herself off, but he had already caught on.

Chat smirked and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes as he jumped off a roof, just to land on another one. "So I made her flustered, did I?"

"You're not turning this on me, kitty," she glared at him, hoping that the redness of her cheeks could blend in with her mask. Her and her big mouth, she just _had_ to say that, didn't she?

"What? I'm just asking a simple question. I didn't know I had that effect on my Princess, but, seeing as you know more about it; please enlighten me."

Her eyes widened and she picked up her pace, even if she knew he could easily catch up with her. "Not happening," she pulled out her yo-yo, but he grabbed her hand before she could throw it.

"Come on, I just want to know?" He grinned dangerously, and her face turned even redder.

"I _will_ throw you off this roof if you don't stop talking."

"Alright, alright," he let go of her hands, but the smirk still stayed in place. "I won't push it...but maybe I should pay her a visit, you know, just to check up on her? A knight needs to know if his Princess is okay, you know?"

She stared at him. "You wouldn't."

"You sure about that?" He countered, smiling mischievously. "I know for a fact that she removed the pictures, so there shouldn't be any problem with me going, right?"

He was surprised when she met his smile with just as much confidence as he would expect from her. "Who knows?" She stated calmly. "Maybe she isn't even home, maybe she's on a date with a prince instead of a knight?"

"Is she now? I haven't heard anything about her having a boyfriend."

Ladybug looked up at him, a challenging glint in her bright blue eyes. "That's most likely because she's waiting for a certain boy in her class to finally ask her out."

"Hmm," Chat's hand went to her face, a clawed finger lifting her chin up slightly as a thoughtful look crossed his eyes. "He's taking too long, isn't he?"

"From what I've heard from her, yeah, he is." The hero shrugged, but stayed in place, not even having a reaction to her partner's touches. By now, it had become normal.

The blond hero tugged her just a little bit closer. "Maybe I should go and tell that Agreste kid to stop being so stupid and just ask her already before she gets too impatient and tired of waiting. With such a pretty face, she could get snatched away easily."

Ladybug's face flushed just a bit at the compliment and he smirked, but she caught him by surprise again by grabbing the hand that was holding her face and tugging him just a tad bit closer, dead set on not losing this little 'game' of theirs. "True, I've spotted Nathanaël looking at her from time to time."

"He has, huh?" Chat's eyes were lidded as he stared at her, and her eyes widened as he suddenly pulled her close enough so that the space between them was almost nonexistent. He leaned down, her breath catching in her throat as his face just inched closer and closer towards her. She couldn't believe it, was he really going to-

Just as his lips almost met hers, he changed directions and placed his lips at her ear. "Seems like Adrien needs to act quickly then," he whispered, before pulling away and continuing with their patrol, leaving her surprised and speechless.

After a few seconds of her not moving, Chat turned around, an innocent look on his face as he called. "My Lady, are you sure you're alright? You seem a bit flustered. I can handle patrol on my own if you need to go home, you know?"

Ladybug snapped out of it, a smirk on her face as she rolled her eyes and ran to catch up with him. He won this round, but she'd get him back for this.

He won't know what hit him.

* * *

"Seems like those two are finally making progress," Allegra muttered, staring at the computer screen with a soft smile on her lips.

"What?" Claude leaned over her to look at the article she was reading, his face _very_ close to hers, making her face go red instantly as she tried to keep her cool. His eyes quickly scanned over the words, raising an eyebrow at the picture of their friends cuddling together in their hero forms. He pulled away and smiled. "Well, I'm pretty sure we've all been waiting for that to happen."

"No kidding," the blonde responded, being able to breath normally now that he had backed out of her personal space.

"But still..." he trailed off and Allegra looked up at him in question, only to yelp in surprise when he wrapped his arm around her in a side-hug. "Now that they've started to acknowledge their relationship, don't you think we should too?" He was wearing the goofy smile she had fallen in love with, although his blue eyes were dead serious.

"Wh-what?" She squeaked, her entire face red. Surely she must be dreaming, there was _no way_ he had said what she thought he-

"You know, I've actually been waiting for you to make the first move, since you're always ranting about how it's cliché that the guy is always expected to ask the girl out first. But honestly, acting oblivious is getting a bit tiring."

Definitely dreaming. "C-Claude?"

"So...will you go out with me?" He asked quickly, and she was surprised to see that he was actually _blushing._ Not nearly as much as her, of course (because honestly, the amount of redness on her face was just ridiculous) but still enough to catch her off guard. It took her a few minutes before she realized that he had let go of her and was waiting for her response.

She blinked a couple of times, still in a state of mild shock before she nodded her head furiously. "S-sure! I'd l-love to!"

The smile he shot her when he heard her answer was enough to light up her entire day.

"It's about time," Allan commented, leaning against the door and watching the two. "Adrien's known us for like a month now and he already had you two figured out from the beginning, we were waiting for you two to get together." He grinned and put his headphones around his neck. "You should be ashamed though, the boy had a girl crushing on him himself and he didn't even realize that she was _his_ crush until recently, but still he figured you two out faster than you did."

That little speech of his seemed to snap Allegra out of her trance and her eyes lit up with fire as she glared at him. "I swear, Allan, you're so dead."

He smirked, arms crossed as he leaned against the door. "Try to catch me, slowpoke." Sparks of electricity surrounded him before Mercury saluted at her and dashed off. The blonde growled and transformed herself before grabbing her flute and going after him.

Claude rolled his eyes and sighed, wondering if those two were ever going to get along. He knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to catch up to them, so he mimicked their actions and transformed as well. Kid Mime quickly mimed a scooter before he tapped Melodie's shoulder and motioned for her to get on...with his help, since it was invisible to her.

"No fair! That's cheating!" Mercury complained when he noticed them catching up to him, before picking up speed.

Kid Mime smiled, even if those two always fought, he wouldn't have it any other way. It was just who they were.

It was _normal._

* * *

 ** _Eh, something seems wrong with this ending, I don't like it! __**

 ** _But I can't change it either because anything else I'd write would just be way worse :(_**


End file.
